Question: Why Must We Still Talk About Race? Answer: Twelve.

[sheshe2]

MaryAnn McKibben Dana
Author, speaker, free-range pastor

The institution of slavery persisted for twelve generations of African Americans.

How long do you think it should take to dismantle twelve generations of racial oppression, not to mention Reconstruction, Jim Crow and its aftermath? Should we be "over it" by now? Ask my friend, who couldn't get a job interview until she removed her "black-sounding" name from her resume, whether it's over. Ask the black men in our communities, who are seven times more likely than whites to die by police gunfire, whether it's over.

My mother has an expression, "When it's on you, it's on you." I didn't ask for it to be on me--the privilege that comes from being white--but it's on me. And I'm fooling only myself if I try and insist otherwise, just because we passed the Civil Rights Act and elected a black President.

It's not about guilt. Guilt is a distraction, a side show, a dead end. My people did not own slaves. But the state of my birth fought under the Confederate flag. And contrary to popular belief, my white children will be more likely to receive a college scholarship than their friends who are people of color.

When it's on you, it's on you. And now it's on all of us to talk about it--and also to listen.

Read More http://www.huffingtonpost.com/maryann-mckibben-dana/question-why-must-we-stil_b_7968828.html?utm_hp_ref=black-voices&ir=Black%20Voices

[giftedgirl77]

1. & the clock doesn't start until we are treated as true equals.

[Nye Bevan]

2. We need to talk about racism as long as there are racists (nt)

[99th_Monkey]

3. "Empty Genuflections or Decisive Action?", is the question at hand

My vote is going for the latter.

[HFRN]

4. 'But the state of my birth fought under the Confederate flag.'

well, mine didn't

my non-slave state had young men die in a fight to free people they never enslaved

'When it's on you, it's on you."

if you feel it's 'on you', that's you business - but don't wag your finger at me

[Autumn]

5. I'm happy to listen but a conversation must go both ways. My family fought in the Civil War

against slavery, my family owned no slaves. I have supported civil right, I have supported women's rights, I have supported human rights, I have supported my LGBT Brothers and Sisters in their fight for equality and justice. As a woman I have done the same work as a man for less money. I have faced discrimination, I have had bad experiences with police. I am a product of mixed blood, even though I look white. No one should be "over it" until they are ready to be "over it" and if people want to "still" be talking about it then they certainly should "still" be talking about it. But they don't need to be calling Liberals who have stood with them white supremacist Liberals. So no it's not all on me and I repeat, a conversation goes both ways or there is no conversation.

[artislife]

6. ^^ this nt

[Lancero]

7. As a number of people say here...

They think themselves free of white privilage just because their state fought for the Union, or because none of their ancestors owned slaves.

And a number of people are fools.

White privilege benefits all white people, despite the actions our ancestors took during the civil war. Whites from both northern and southern states - And western and eastern too - all whites benefit from white privilege.

It's nothing to be ashamed of, it's just something that one has to admit to existing, and to admit that they benefit from. It's just two simple things to do that so many seem to be incapable of.

[Number23]

8. + a million.

[tk2kewl]

9. It is a crime against humanity that has never been properly accounted for

As with the treatment of Native Americans and other many other peoples of color around the world.

One may feel they have never personally contributed to these crimes but to be like....

Oppressed/Not oppressed/Ok, we're good now, right? is not ok