By BEATRICE N. ODEZULU, MBA
Los Alamos
I am writing as an African American woman with four kids and a husband trying to process the tragic death of Mr. George Floyd. We have mourned and now are trying to heal.
My children are asking me questions which I do not have any answer to. However, a Scripture popped up in my heart, “Love overcomes hate”. Love your neighbor means treat them the way you would want to be treated.
The community has a huge role to play in creating an environment where love prevails. When you see a person, see them as a human being first. We all bleed, hurt, and want good things in life. The color of my skin does not take away my humanity. It is deep ignorance to think that the quantity of melanin (pigment that determines skin tone) that someone has, makes them less human. When donating blood or signing up to be an organ donor, nobody cares what your skin color is. Yet, skin color has resulted in untold hardship for thousands.
Some may not understand the term “white privilege” because they have never been on the other side of the fence. It means the hurdles and glass ceilings you don’t have to constantly deal with in the ordinary course of living, because you have the “right” skin color. If you have not been followed around while shopping, you are enjoying that privilege. [That’s the reason I don’t like shopping. My husband does all the shopping].
In 2012, I went with my then 7-year-old girl to our beloved CB Fox to shop. A clerk kept following us so that my daughter innocently asked why the woman was following us. I told her she wanted to make sure we were not having any problems. My daughter pointed out that she was not following other shoppers and then I had to tell her the bitter truth: “There are things people will do to you and not to others, just because of your skin color”.
People that act that way will not consider themselves racists. It is just ingrained in our society and people do it without giving thought to why they are doing it.
The African American male suffers the consequences of racial profiling in a proportion that is heart-breaking. Even with education and civility, it does not erase how they are being viewed and treated. My husband has a Ph.D. in Physiology and Anatomy, yet he cannot get a job to provide for his family. His job as a professor in Northern New Mexico College was terminated 6 years ago because of racial injustice. His students protested because they loved him, and he was a wonderful teacher that made the most difficult course easy to understand.
Peaceful protest of racial injustice is one way to overcome this evil. I was touched when I saw the variety of people protesting: white, black, yellow, red, young, old etc. It shows there is hope for humanity. Love is the way to extend it to our homes. What and how we talk, at our dinner tables, about other people different from us matter. Choose the love way. Explain to your family that even if people are different from you, they are humans and have the same basic needs you have.
