E,
It is sad that we have to still push the idea that people are of equal
value. That one life does not and cannot matter more than another. It is a hard
thing to comprehend but you cannot live in ignorance of the world you live in. If
you are going to be a relentless do-gooder or a person of faith, or some sort
of light in the world, then you must be well aware of the dark.
A person of colour in the western world, is more aware of these racial
differences than those of us born on the African continent. We know it in tribes,
and they know it more in race. Both offer the same unhelpful delusion: there is
something inherent that makes one-person superior to the other, from made up
language and culture, because all culture and all language is basically made up
to carry group values, to the way your pigmentation works out. It is sad but
true.
The best wat to look at it lies in the idea that all stories matter. We ought
to listen to each other and learn where the other comes from. We cannot erase
thousands of years of cultural mishaps and racial crimes. What we can do is
acknowledge that there is nuance in the world, no human being is the bastion of
good or the epoch of evil. We are started in our prejudices and preferences,
but we do not have to die there. We can listen to each other. And learn other
stories.