On Monday of this week another day in America where a white person verbally assaults a black person. For nearly 12 years, I’ve known her professionally and socially to be one way. But here, in this video, she is completely another. I am saddened and hurt and fearful and depressed. She was fired by my company within hours of this hitting the internet. I believe they did the right thing and I believe she did the wrong thing. I believe she is aware of her wrongdoing.
The Facebook link where it went viral
The Bay Area coverage of the event on KRON news (sorry I can’t embed at the moment)
But why? Why is this happening? A few years ago, we read about many shark attacks on humans. It seemed that shark attacks were occurring at an alarming rate. Yet the statistics for that year didn’t bear it out. It turns out that shark attacks that year were lower than in other years. But social media made it seem like sharks had some sort of personal vendetta and were out to get every surfer and swimmer. Is this any different? Have these incidents always been there, but now nearly everything is being recorded? Or is it simply that our awareness is higher? Are the incidents higher or lower than they were in the past. I think the Southern Poverty Law Center suggests the numbers are increasing, which is distressing to say the least.
What do you do when it’s your friend? Do you stand by them? Do you defend them? Do you sympathize with them? Do you act like nothing has changed and try to get back to “normal” when you have no idea what normal is any longer? Has she been a closeted racist all these years? I reach out to this community for compassion and wisdom. Please imagine this is your colleague and friend before you respond. We certainly don’t need more pie fights.