Sanibel Journal

Systemic racism can be difficult to detect and destroy, because it is so insidious.  People can say things without thinking, but they say them because the words seem to make them sound like caring, concerned folks.  The words protect them from being seen as callous, compassionless people.  Good people say these things, but if they think about the meaning of the words, and apply logic and common sense, they can see what is hiding underneath those words. I was having a phone conversation with a friend along the lines of my commentary last week, “Work for white people,”   when she said that she thought black people had some work to do, too, because “most black people who are killed are killed by other black people.” Bingo!   There are some of those words covering up hidden, systemic racism. Think about it.   Most white people are killed by other white people because most people who are killed are killed by someone they know.   Why apply this...

White people will have to do the heavy lifting to end institutionalized racism.  Several incidents in my life have taught me that lesson.  Here’s the story about one of those times. Photo by Jumana Khaled Dakkur Many years ago, when I began to serve on a board of a nonprofit organization that promoted historic preservation in a city in Ohio, I heard my fellow board members (all white people) voice concern about the fact that the vast majority of the membership and all of the directors of the organization did not include people of color.   My colleagues on that board were wondering if the black community did not care about historic preservation. Nonsense, I thought.   I called my friend CD who was interested in restoring and preserving a music hall/theatre that was much like Fort Myers’ McCollum Hall , only larger. (Duke Ellington had performed in both of these places.)    I knew CD because my husband and I are jazz fans, and we liked to...