RDP FRIDAY: XENOPHOBIA

 I have been in  several discussions about Xenophobia or racism in the real and not on-line world ( which is a pretty safe place to express yourself ) and when the excuses start, in my head I can hear Hannibal Lecter saying:

“You fly back to school now, little Starling. Fly, fly, fly…”

It feels like I have heard every single excuse- with an emphasis on the word excuse for xenophobia. I think that’s because there aren’t a lot of them and if it works it works and people will repeat it.

In my experience the one I hear most often is, ” it’s such a big problem it can’t be solved overnight ” closely followed by, ”  xenophobia exists all over the world.”

I think people use those lines because at some level they care about their fellow human beings but you know- this isn’t really ‘their’ problem to solve because they are good, decent and they don’t  put these negative vibes out into the Universe. So I suppose that means there is ‘nothing they have to do. ‘ But remember- they are good people. So don’t get mad at them for taking those positions.

Alrighty then.

The picture to the right is of  Emmett Till. He was tortured and lynched in Mississippi in 1955. After he was dead, his murderers threw his body into the Tallahatchie  River. The picture to the left was taken in 2019 and it is a picture of three white students from the University of Mississippi . This photo shows two of the men standing with guns in front of a historical marker at the location where Till’s body was pulled from the Tallahatchie River.

Here is my advice on dealing with xenophobia- I think it would be best if people quit making excuses for why they don’t want to deal with xenophobia because for as long as they do people will keep on driving to Emmit Till’s memorial  to in order to vandalize it . They will continue to go to libraries where there are books that make them feel “bad”  in efforts to ban materials that make them feel ‘uncomfortable’.

You want to help with this big problem ? Quit making excuses for why nothing can be done. Stop saying it’s not your problem.

That would be a good start.