By Mark Antony Rossi 

The perception of prejudice in 2017 belongs in a more bizarre category than the year 1965. Today people research every word and statement for any hint of secret hate. The moral maxim of not being judged by the color of your skin but rather the content of your character is slipping from social memory. It seems all we talk about these days is skin color. Black victims. White cops. Black lives. White privilege. Lots of monologue. No dialogue.

The terrible irony of living in an age of instant communication is that its technological power has zero influence on increasing understanding between various cultures. The revolution is being televised and instead of educating the masses it has managed to rile our basest instincts. Any goodwill built up over the years of progressive legislative measures has been lost when equality is confused with equal outcomes.

We are reverting back to the days of old. Foolishly believing only members of our own “kind” can offer security and sanity in a complicated world. Those acting in the enclave mindset are perpetuating myths and validating the very monsters they claim to be against. There is no “kind” other than humankind and any rationalization to split semantical hairs is declaration of war on common sense and common decency.

It unravels of more than a half century of edifying forces, sacrificial figures, and heaven-sent heroes pointing the way to the promised land. Now we settle for television shows, music, fashion, dare-I-say politics created for one culture or the other or the other or the other. We fragment when we should fellowship. We debauch when we should debate. We speak when we should listen. And when we finally listen, we listen to the voice of the street instead of the voice of the heart.

It is immoral to accept racism. It is madness to mystify racism and delude ourselves into thinking we cannot understand another culture. Contrary to the negative naysayers it is not difficult to emotionally and intellectually understand discrimination, racism or naked hatred. In many instances we each experience these events from people who resemble our complexion, culture or community.

The visual and vocal vocabulary to being conquering the obstacles that divide us is ever present in our collective conscience and conscious self. What’s stopping us is a moral laziness that would rather deem historically recent progress as an endpoint or choose to view any progress as barely a beginning. These extreme visions threaten to pollute the future by damaging the civil society a healthy democracy if built upon. Mystifying racism is madness because it twists the debatable into the deplorable and makes a religion of victimization. If everyone is a victim whom is the victimizer. None can be innocent in this approaching no-win scenario.

We need the strength to Love ourselves more than the Liar hates us. We need to stop betraying our children by accepting a poisonous environment. We need to have a coffee with a cultural counterpart and share a promise and a pain. Only in discovering how human we truly are can we start repairing a society that has lost its way with meaning, manners and the enduring beauty of learning something new that will not be found in your neck of the woods. That is how concerned minds and heavy hearts slowly open. The surprise of difference imparts an unexpected deeper understanding of your own walk in life. The wonder of the humanity wills a faith that there is still time to explore the glories of the heavens while holding hands with sons and daughters of the same Creator.

About the Author: Mark Antony Rossi is a poet, playwright and author of the bioethics volume “Dark Tech” now available from Amazon. His most recent plays have been produced in Liverpool and New York.

http://ethical-stranger.webnode.com/ 

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