Racism in the Land of the Free

Miss Larkin was my teacher in the seventh grade.  One day she asked us if we believed in the ten commandments.  Of course we all said ‘yes’.  Her second question was whether we cared about our neighbors; same response.  Then she said something like, “Then you would not sell your house to a black person because that would upset your neighbor.”  Confused, I raised my hand.  “I don’t think that’s what the bible means by neighbor, Miss Larkin.  A neighbor is someone you care about, a fellow human being, and that is the person I should honor, not the bigot next door.”  Her response was: “Out of my classroom you communist!”  When I got home I asked my mother what that meant.  All of this is to say that I didn’t understand a person like Miss Larkin when I was twelve, any more than I understand the racist cops who beat Freddie Gray to death a couple of weeks ago.  I told my mom back then that my skin was a different color in the summer than in the winter, so why, I asked, would I judge a person by his/her color?   I sit here wishing I was in Baltimore to march, but I’m not.  I live in a tiny town on the west coast that is very white, not because it is white but because it is beautiful and peaceful and progressive.  Many of us are retired.  Economic discrepancy has more to do with the racial disparity here, which sure as hell doesn’t make it better although it says a lot!  What is wrong with ‘the land of the free’  that white men still earn the most in America, women farther behind, and black men and women even further down the financial ladder?  I suppose I should be relieved that broadcasters on PBS – although, who watches PBS, one might ask –  are talking about that now, but talk doesn’t make me feel better.  When will we, by marching, and our government, by legislative action, do something about this continued inequality? They can’t legislate ‘love thy neighbor’ but they certainly can pass laws to change the economics of the situation.  Of course, since the members of Congress are part of the 1% by virtue of their incomes, I don’t have high hopes of that happening any time soon.  And so, despite the sun outside my window, I start my week feeling particularly gloomy.  Yes, there has been change in America since I sat in Miss Larkin’s classroom, but not nearly enough. God bless Bernie Sanders.  But land of the free?  If you’re white, male and wealthy, you’re also blessed with quite a lot of that commodity .  And that isn’t nearly enough change for me.