I had a discussion with someone today

[PatrickforO]

68. Racism is pretty insidious. I was raised white suburban in the sixties and seventies.

I know my parents (rest their souls, for they are both long dead), as well as the neighbors of my youth, would never have even thought they were racist. In fact they would have denied it vehemently.

Yet, my parents often told me that other people 'weren't as good as us.' My mother told me to 'stick with my own kind.' When MLK was assassinated by that jerk, all the white men in my neighborhood made barricades in anticipation of 'colored riots.' Nothing happened, but they made the barricades.

My dad, in fact, moved us out to the suburbs when Denver started busing kids, because he said he would die before he let me be bused.

Now, the effect this had was to isolate me, and other kids in my neighborhood, so we never really interacted with any people of color. I did not have any meaningful interaction with any non-white people until I was in college.

That is what racism looks like - one of its faces.

Essentially, I think, it is isolation from those who are different culturally, or by virtue of skin color, coupled with fear of 'other' based on ignorance - if you are isolated from 'other,' then it is easy to begin to fear them, followed quickly by hatred.

But you know, I just had an argument with a guy on the Hill that blamed legislation reforming lending practices for the housing bubble that created the Great Recession back in '08. Seriously. The guy actually blamed 'unqualified single mothers and blacks' making $30K and getting loans for $300,000 homes. Now, that is just bullshit. You know it and so do I, but this guy actually believed it to the extent he forwarded the argument in the face of my contention it was the repeal of Glass-Steagall that was the primary causal factor.

Trump is just a symptom. I know I am not the first to say this, but we got Trump because the racists absolutely could not stand that Obama was president, and was actually a good president. They just could not stand it. So we had birthers. Guys that called out, "Liar!" during State of the Union speeches, Congress members saying they could barely stand to be 'in the same room' with Obama, horrible criticisms of Michelle. It makes me sick.

It makes a lot of people sick. I don't know how to fix it. I think we can re-legislate - pass a new Voting Rights Act. We can retrain and reculture, demilitarize police departments. And we can work to make college more affordable and accessible. But in the end, we are going to have to implement educational policies like Germany did, making every kid learn what Germany did in the Nazi era, and have strict laws against white supremacy. Then, it will take a generation, but perhaps racism can be defeated.