Systemic. Systematic. Sickening.

My uncle nearly never spoke to my grandma ever again when I was 16 years old. He stood up for me, a snotty nose skinny white kid from the burbs, as I argued my senior thesis (Against Apartheid-1986) with my grandmother over dinner.

There was screaming, crying and harsh words — but nobody died at my house.

She was saying black people should not be allowed to vote in South Africa because they were not educated. She stopped short of calling for the same here, but perhaps only because how that would make her sound to her family.

Is my grandmother a racist? No. Was she arguing like a racist? Yes. My grandmother is part of the system — a node at the far reaches — but part of the system. And this is the truth I held in my head — but, it cannot be anymore. It is unacceptable to say, “Well that’s what it was like in their day” or “He’s not really racist, he just tells off colour jokes”. That kind of allowance has created and fed the system that is killing us today.

Mass incarceration, mass racism and mass depravity.

It is a system problem. I wish it was just some rednecks down on the farm. That would be easier — wait, that sounds a lot like the story we tell ourselves.

Sorry folks. Look to your left, look to your right. If neither are taking action or standing up at every instance, they are complicit in this systemic racism.

All systems have weaknesses. We need to infect the system with a virus that attacks this weakness— a virus from humanity.

I wonder who knows about viruses, has access to lots of cash and a good amount of power with global reach?

Please, help. You know who I am talking about.

I wrote this a few months ago….let’s keep identifying the system.

P.s. I have tagged this post with “startup” because we need people outside the angry circles to become part of the solution.