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| Picture from linked article. |
Racism, cowardice and self-hatred go hand in hand.
Case in point: Check out the nighttime firebombing of the Highlander social justice center in East Tennessee. In predictable form, racists act at night when no one is looking. Historically, they also put hoods on to hide their faces. Nowadays, they troll online using fake accounts from their parents' basement.
People only hide their faces and sneak in the shadows when they are not proud of themselves and what they are doing.
Oh, I'm sure you could point to an incident here or there where aggressive racists showed their faces. But I bet they only did that if they thought the odds were 10-to-1 in their favor. But even still, a few incidents here or there doesn't change the overall trend of how racists like to hide.
To be clear, racists will certainly be passive aggressive in broad daylight. Usually that's also when they are denying that they are racists while doing something very racist. They display racist symbols and mannerisms while playing dumb about it. We've all heard it: "It's about heritage not race." Sure it is. Well, that may indeed be true for some but we know it's definitely not true for many. Their denial is part of the psychological terrorism they are employing.
If you have something to say, then say it outright. Show your face. That's what grown adults do. But racists can't do that because a person has to have self-confidence to do that.
Racism is Self-Hatred
We talk so much of the damage that racism inflicts on others, but we often neglect to mention another tragedy: How sad it must be to be a racist. I mean seriously. These people have nothing better to do than sit around and hate another group? All that means is that they don't believe there is anything interesting going on in their own lives so they have to focus on what someone else is doing. If racists would just start doing something meaningful with their own lives--maybe creating new art, building up a successful business or achieving some goal--they won't have time or energy to worry about what someone else is doing. What they were doing would simply be too wonderful to waste by taking time away to hate someone else who is not harming them.
I was bullied a lot when I was younger. One day it occurred to me: I must be absolutely amazing because these people have nothing else to do than obsesses over every little thing I did or said. Yes, it was painful and yes, it was damaging. I hate to give them the satisfaction of knowing that, but I'm also not going to give them the satisfaction of living in secrecy about it, either. But in a very unexpected way, it actually boosted my self-esteem and confidence in so many ways! It made me so much stronger than ever before.
You pretty much have to be a coward to be a racist (or any other kind of bully). To all the racists out there, admit it: Deep down, you are afraid that another race is better than you. You are afraid that if you didn't constantly work against them behind their backs that they would out-compete you. Racists have poor confidence in their own abilities. They are desperately afraid of fair competition. Why else would they spend so much time and energy obsessing about another group? Why else would they work so desperately to keep another group down if they didn't fear what that group would do on equal footing? Their actions reveal all this about them.
Do something of your own to feel proud of for a change and then you won't worry about what some other group is doing.
And that's all very sad. Racism is nothing but jealousy and envy hidden very well. And jealousy is just self-hatred--you want what someone else has because deep down you hate who you are and what you have. Racists hate themselves which is why they find it so easy to hate others. And that's so very sad because every person has so much to offer and so much that is good about them. I have to believe that about everyone.
Love yourself and you will have nothing but love for others.
Yes, racism can and does hurt others. But it is also a sign of how deeply wounded the racists themselves are. How little they must think of themselves.
And that's so very, very sad.
These cowardly racists could learn a lot from the people they try to hate: You'll never find a display of courage more powerful than those of the Civil Rights movement. The racists hid behind dogs, covered their heads with pillowcases and used the bully power of an unfair legal system to add muscle to themselves. Unarmed Civil Rights marchers stood up to all that and won. These firebombers today and yesterday have a sad legacy. Nothing they do compares to the bravery of the people in the Civil Rights Movement. But don't be mad at the Civil Rights movement for this. Instead, be mad at yourselves that you don't think better of yourselves.
I'm angry at racists but I don't really want to shame them here. I just think the whole situation is so sad. I wish racists loved themselves and believed in themselves more. Hating others is never going to bring anyone fulfillment. You are never going to hate your way to happiness. Whatever pain or anger in their own lives is something that need healing, and hating on others is never going to fix that. It will just create more pain but most of all it just creates a loss of potential--for the victims but also for the racists themselves. Individual black people have been seriously harmed, but as a group African Americans have only risen above all of this to be even stronger than ever before. The same cannot be said of racists.
If I love myself, I love you. If I love you, I love myself.
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