David Antrobus
Aug 26, 2017 · 1 min read

Thanks for the shout-out, Amber. Maybe I can help in the sense that I don’t fall across party lines, since I’m in Canada and therefore have never voted in a US election or been a member of a US political party. (And no, I’m not saying we don’t have racial scarring in this country as we most certainly do.) But if I had to distill my thoughts on the race issue as it pertains to America specifically, it comes down to my belief that it will take white people to admit their complicity, not just now within the milieu of systemic racism, but historically. It’s clearly a suppurating wound, and if white folks aren’t going to acknowledge that in sufficient numbers, it has little to no chance of healing. It’s shocking and heartbreaking that in spite of so many forward steps (Civil Rights, the election of Barack Obama not once but twice) it still hasn’t healed—but then again, we in Canada have little moral high ground, given our treatment of Indigenous people.

But we—white people, that is—are still responsible every time we ignore our white privilege. Every time we gloss over historical injustice. Every time we dismiss the sins of our ancestors, claiming that “times were different then.” Every time we ignore a family member’s racist “joke” at the Thanksgiving dinner table. Every time we automatically look for what the victim did wrong after a police shooting. I could go on, but I’ll leave it there.

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    David Antrobus

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    Writer, editor, enthusiast.