I went to bed last night thinking about what makes someone a fine person these days. What that even means. How low are we willing to let that bar go. For others. For ourselves. I’m not sure what it means to be a fine person in these times but I know I want to live in a world and country where we are at least clearer about what a fine person is not.
I can say with certainty that if I am a nazi or a white nationalist, or standing shoulder to shoulder with them telling myself it is something other than white supremacy, I am not a fine person. If I am not resolutely condemning those who march with torches, waving flags that represent hate and oppression, emulating the darkest of social movements and chanting racist invective, I am not a fine person. If I’m unwilling to consider that city parks should not be named after nor contain statues of historical figures who fought to preserve slavery, I am not a fine person.
If I am unwilling to connect the dots between the racism and provocations spewed by this president and the silence of the leaders around him, to the fact that we now live in an even more racist—more overtly racist—and violent country, I’m not acting like a fine person.
We’re not fine.
We were never fine. Ours was always a country built on the backs of slaves and without the willingness to fully acknowledge it. Ours is still a country that explicitly and implicitly embodies and enables white supremacy. It’s been said already but needs to be said again: If those were armed black men marching in Charlottesville, many of them would not still be alive. This is an example of white supremacy.
A person of color could never have behaved the way this president has and been elected or remained president. This is an example of white supremacy.
I have benefited from the privilege of being white in this country in ways I don’t even know and don’t have to look at. This—and it’s painful to see and say it, but is a truth I must know—is an example of white supremacy.
I don’t have hate in my heart. But I don’t have to feel hate to play a part. Silence advances white supremacy. Ignorance advances white supremacy. Fear advances white supremacy.
I know it’s hard and it hurts, but we have to be willing to see and speak and take responsibility for our roles in what is happening right now. There is no ambiguity when it comes to nazis and white supremacists. None. To have a president who says otherwise is disgraceful and terrifying.
We have to be leaders for each other and for kids who are growing up in a country where there is now gray area around ideologies that we grew up learning—however inadequate and incomplete our understanding—were unacceptable. We have to at least know and speak the truth of what is clearly wrong.
It’s what a fine person would do. Let’s strive to be fine people.