Those of you who still think racism is our biggest problem, I urge you to read this essay by Chris Hedges. Quite powerful.
Racism should not be our primary concern because nobody can earn a living being a racist. It’s a relative luxury when you are worried about feeding your family. The economic fear and anxiety are bringing out the ugliness within them, but we all have ugliness within us. Those of us living in urban cities are just lucky. We are not desperate yet, so we can still afford to be idealistic.
The real crimes are not the hate crimes we’ve been seeing on TV but those perpetrated by the political elites who enriched themselves and their friends through crony capitalism, making the rich richer and the poor poorer, which in turn fuels bigotry.
Hate crimes are blue-collar crimes. We can see, smell, and hear the evil: blood, bruise, wounds, gun shots, etc.. They are simple to understand and point our fingers at. They are easy to shame our opponents with. They arouse strong emotions and visceral reactions.
The evil the political elites are guilty of are white-collar crimes. There is nothing to see. They are opaque, shrouded in secrecy, and highly complex. Like those derivatives that almost brought down the world economy in 2008, you would have to be an expert to understand why they are evil. Conveniently for you, your opponent cannot point their fingers at anything. They cannot shame you. They cannot even explain to you what you are guilty of, but they are suffering the consequences of your complicity. And, the irony of it is that it’s just a matter of time; we will be on the same boat too.
So, take a moment from shouting and listen to your opponent a little.
