Why Racism is So Hard to Fight

Racism is a behavior based on the value of cruelty.  This value -- as all values is not a tangible thing.  It's just part of a belief system.  Not something you can "kill."  You can merely surround yourself with people who do not possess cruelty as a value.

In the society that we are in -- namely, the USA, I'm afraid that they do not even comprehend ethics.  They are literally like children with no ethics.  Of course, they are not as cute as children when you see the police brutality, the lynching, the economic oppression that they wrought the cute-factor is not there.

(I guess another way is to shame them into behaving out of fear of punishment.  That's something, however, it only means the behavior will become more concealed the next time.  And is that what we really want?)

The United States is so lacking in ethics that even the court system is not based on it. In the court system, the question is simply did you break an assigned rule for the citizen?  It's not whether you did wrong or not.  So many people go into court ready to defend themselves based on ethics and values only to lose miserably in court because the judge is not looking for that.  They just want to see if you, as a citizen of the State, were within your rights to do x or if you violated a barrier they placed.

The problem of cruelty is compounded in that it is surrounded with lies.  The racists create an excuse as to why the victim is deserving of this cruelty.  In their anger, they can't even see the wider picture and don't care that their reasoning may be contradicting an opposing reason that had been stated earlier as to why the victim is deserving of the cruelty.  His pants were sagging, he seemed like a thug; he was behaving so uppity with that suit, and the list can go on and on.

That's the tier #1.  The next surrounding lies is the denial of any malicious action happening.  That is tier #2 lie.  It's a concealment within a concealment.  What do you do with someone like that?  If you're not careful, you can spend years fighting this lie -- falsehood -- something that doesn't even exist.  You can spend years fighting for the admittance that you really are a good person, that you come from good ancestry, that you have good in you, that you didn't do anything wrong.  And as long as no one validates, the fight -- the struggle -- will go on endlessly.  You're not really fighting anything but an illusion and the racists fight back by simply being passive and letting us run around in circles.  Say, "Black Lives Matter!"  and you will be met with either silence or diffusion (all lives matter!). (We have to have the psychological fortitude to not need their validation).

It's such an illusion that when the police come, they have to wait and hope that the Black person trips up and does something to give them a reason to fall into their cruel, frenzied attack.  Because there really isn't anything wrong with that person.

So for this reason, I don't think that racism can end anytime soon if we wait on them to come around.  However, we must embrace the fact that we have ethics, we have values and morals, we have a compass that tells us what's right and what's wrong, and we need to obey that "teacher" inside us.

So how to have an ethical life in the midst of this exile surrounded by non-ethical people?  The only way I can think of is to have safe havens.  Just like Chinatown has its little enclave where the people can live and exercise their own ethics, just like the Italians have their "little Italy" where they practice their own set of values, so the Black community must also work on that.  And have a buffer -- an organization that will come to their defense when a member has to deal with the outside buffer zone.  An organization that knows the laws, keep track of the changes in the laws, puts out public service messages, and figures out how best to avoid, circumvent, or otherwise benefit despite the laws.

To conclude, racism is not a tangible thing so no physical weapon can strike and kill it.  However, it can be tempered by avoiding its "carriers" when possible and having a buffer or shield to protect oneself should the need arise to deal with the racists.