If You’re Racist, You Hurt Yourself

You miss out on opportunities for growth and enlightenment

Photo by Surface on Unsplash

I was watching a video on YouTube this morning — a short. It’s about a black man who goes on a ride-along with a white cop. It has an important lesson. Here is the link:

My Experience of Riding Along With a White Police Officer

The keys that it emphasizes — dignity and respect.

If we treat others with respect and acknowledge their dignity, then that goes a long way.

The video also speaks to the assumptions we make. The black man assumed things about the white cop. The reality is that we all assume things about each other.

I’m a woman of color and yet I was surprised by the Latina sitting next to me at a lecture years ago. When I first sat down and introduced myself, I noticed from her speech that she was uneducated, so I assumed she would not know a lot about gemstones, the topic of the lecture. I was wrong.

During intermission, I chatted with her and discovered she knew a great deal about minerals. It was her passion. Even though she worked as a maid, she…