Wake Up, America. Eric Garner Was Killed In The North — NOT The ‘Racist South’

I have discovered over the last few days that people seem to believe the myth that racism is a purely southern thing. In the enlightened northern part of America, people take to their fainting couches if you suggest that institutional racism is still occurring. That is, if they are white. People like to believe the American myth that racism is purely something that happens down south, where images of ?strange fruit? and people dressed in sheets burning crosses are part of our shameful heritage.

The thing is, the recent killings of unarmed black men and boys by police is happening largely in the urban north, not the rural south.

The President?spoke about this at length. So what do we take away from the tragedies of?Eric Garner, Michael Brown and Tamir Rice?

Especially when viewed in the light of the fact that several armed whites, who committed mass murders in Aurora, Colorado and other parts of the country somehow managed to be taken alive. Also, these whites were almost uniformly labeled as ?mentally ill? or ?troubled?. They were not labeled as ?thugs? or ?criminals? even when they had criminal misconduct in their pasts.

In short, if you want to believe that racism is only something that happens in the unenlightened southern states, you may want to check your privilege. If having this discussion makes you uncomfortable, or you find yourself trying to believe the narrative that the police are telling, you may want to check your privilege. If you feel that blacks and Hispanics being incarcerated in far higher percentages than whites for the same crimes are justifiable, you may want to check your privilege. I learned one thing about growing up mixed race but still passing as white in the Deep South that has stuck with me for most of my life. The louder folks talk about something, or try to justify something, it usually means they are struggling with it internally. I challenge everyone to take a hard look at yourself, and ask one really hard question: What can I do about my personal racist beliefs?

You will notice I did not say ?am I a racist?? We all are struggling with racism, on some level or another. The difference is what you do with it, how you confront it, and what you do to fix it.

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Redneck disabled veteran in South Louisiana. My college transcripts show either a very well rounded academic or someone with the attention span of a gold fish. Served in Iraq.