Dismantling American Racism: A Primer (Part 1 of 3)

The Origins of American Racism

After the video of the murder of George Floyd started to dominate the news cycle, it took a few days for me to force myself to watch it. All nine-minutes of it. The anguish that swelled within me was so overpowering that it felt as if it was going to burn away pieces of my soul.

A couple of days later I found myself in jail after being arrested while participating in a protest demonstration near Trump Tower, despite the fact that I know that such demonstrations alone will not defeat American racism. As I read statement after statement from public officials, I felt I needed to make more than a statement about racism. I needed to offer solutions and answers to essential questions.

• Why are people racist?
• What exactly is racism?
• How do we create meaningful and productive conversations about race and racism?
• Can the problem of personal and institutional racism be solved? If so, how?

Each one of these questions has a clear and definite answer but those answers are not widely known or discussed because they have not been priorities of the powers who have controlled American society and its institutions. In an effort to start filling that gap, I’ve composed a…