Thursday, June 18, 2015

For Charleston and For Everyone

I'll make this brief. This is not my forte, but I wasn't going to be at peace with myself if I didn't say it.

We all know racists. We see it in the street, on social media, in social situations. Sometimes it's closer to home than we'd like to admit. Racism will never go away. Never.

But you can start a dialogue. Someone you know makes a vague comment? Just ask. Find out. Start talking.

What happened last night in Charleston, S.C. shouldn't be the eye-opener.

Innocent people need to stop dying just for living.





Thanks for your time.


9 comments:

cmealha said...

You're right. We have to stop the little things and not let them go. We should have zero-tolerance.

Jeff in Denton TX said...

Amen, Sal.

kevin m said...

Spot on Sal. Tolerance and respect for others seems to be declining each day. And I'm sorry to post political views on this board but I'm so sick of waking up every day to hear about innocent people being killed by those with easy access to guns.

A walk in the woods said...

This is actually one of the best pieces of advice I've seen yet. On the big issues I'd like to change - like having less access to guns, etc - there's not much I can do. But I can "call somebody on it" when I hear them slipping into racist, sexist, homophobic, etc thoughts - instead of laffin' along collegially just because nobody else is around. Great reminder.

Dr Wu said...

I found the disparity in how the Fox News Channel and The Daily Show's Jon Stewart discussed the day's event to bewildering, shocking, and ultimately sad. Your remarks and call to action were succinct and true. As always Sal, thank you.

Noam Sane said...

If you have a racist friend
Now is the time for your friendship to end

What Sal said.

Peace to all.

whattawino said...

Amen...again.

Keith said...

I'm English,I'm not sure your going to like this but I really wanted to say that racism homophobia and other despicable behaviour is universal and cannot be tolerated but is exacerbated in USA by your seeming unwillingness to do anything at all about your right to bear arms.For Goodness sake,it is essential you get rid of the guns .......all of them. Not "limit access". Then lunatics such as the one mentioned here may well have a rant and can rave all he likes but he cannot then indulge himself in conducting a massacre.

Sal - you don't know me and I have never commented on your blog before but kudos to you. Your "nods" on various artists have made my musical knowledge increase so thanks.

Keith

The Grim Reefer said...

For better or for worse, guns are more than a few threads in the wonderfully woven tapestry of American culture. It seems counter-intuitive, but statistics clearly show gun violence in the USA trending downward for 50 years. The kinds of horrid, clearly racist attacks of whites on blacks are incredibly rare here, and when they happen, they are roundly & universally condemned. I'm not sure the "minority community" REALLY wants to have an "honest discussion" of "Cross-racial" crime rates. In America, Blacks attack whites far more than the other way around. By almost four to one. And we will never have an "honest discussion" about race relations until such things can be pointed out with being subject to accusations of racism.
My two cents