Pages tagged "Racism"

Dear Editor: Like farm grade baling twine the theme of walls is woven tightly, cogently, through the latest Western Friend, "On Superiority." A critical and compelling point is taken. The foundations of physical walls are first laid in the thoughts between our ears. Architectural barriers could not exist if the footers were not poured early in the classroom, nurtured by mainstream media and codified into law and policy.

Old white people elected a person who ran on a racist, xenophobic, misogynist platform as president of the United States. That’s us baby boomers. That’s me. How did this happen? Maybe we need to stop pointing fingers and wringing our hands and get honest about how this happened and what we’re going to do to take back our democracy.

Excerpts from a presentation to Intermountain Yearly Meeting; June 12, 2014; Ghost Ranch, Abiquiú, New Mexico

I received more reaction to my posting, The Iconification of Nelson Mandela and American Racism, than for any other of the 257 postings that I had done in almost seven years. Some of the responses were supportive, some critical, and some “yes, but.” Below is my original newsletter article, followed by a sampling of the responses.