— Dr. Fred McKinney,
Carlton Highsmith Chair for Innovation and Entrepreneurship and Director, People’s United Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Quinnipiac University
The opinions expressed in this article is solely those of the writer.
I was not planning to write about this topic when the week began. There are lots of issues that I could address, particularly, the ubiquitous COVID 19 crisis, how it has impacted our lives and our livelihoods. and how we have responded to it. But beneath the COVID news have been numerous and disturbing reports of the consequences of another virus - American racism.
The killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer is a brutal reminder that black Americans cannot, in fact, do not, presume a sense of safety when in the presence of “peace” officers even when doing seemingly innocuous activities like jogging, sleeping, playing, driving, selling mix tapes, or entering your own home. The disease of racism is the most difficult American conversation.
If the killing of Mr. Floyd was the only event to remind us of this fact, we should look at some recent similar examples. In 2015 alone, police or self-styled vigilantes killed over 100 unarmed black Americans. Here is a list of some recent high-profile killings:
• Treyvon Martin (Sanford, FL, 2012)
• Tamir Rice (Cleveland, 2014)
• Sam Dubose (Cincinnati, 2015)
• Freddie Gray (Baltimore, 2015)
• Philando Castile (St. Andrews, MN, 2016)
• Terrance Crutcher (Tulsa, OK 2017)
• Alton Sterling (Baton Rouge, 2016)
• Jamar Clark (Minneapolis, 2015)
• Walter Scott (North Charleston, SC, 2015)
• Michael Brown (Ferguson, MO, 2014)
• Eric Garner (New York City, 2014)
• Sandra Bland (Walker County, TX, 2015)
• Mubarak Soulemane (West Haven, CT, 2020)
• Ahmaud Arbery (Brunswick, GA, 2020)
• Briana Taylor (Louisville, 2020)
If the Memorial Day murder of George Floyd over a $20 dispute by a Minneapolis policeman does not move America to recognize that racism is also a deadly virus that infects both victims and victimizers, perhaps nothing will. It is easy to see the damage racism does to black Americans. In most instances, racism is not deadly. Take the case of the Central Park woman who called the NYPD on a black man upset that her privilege was not working so she needed backup.
It is more difficult to see the damage it does to the white Americans who perpetrate racism. Racists and white supremacists cannot see the world as it is. They are blind to the reality that there is but one human race. Racists simply do not – cannot -process facts. This makes them susceptible to unfounded conspiracy theories. This makes them oppositional to science. This makes them vulnerable to place the blame for their unsatisfactory existence on those who do not look like them. Racists need an “other” that they can point to that proves their superiority despite the facts. Most unfortunately, racists pass on this sickness to their children and their grandchildren just as it was passed on to them by their parents and grandparents. Fortunately, most white Americans are not racists.
Racism is deeply woven into American culture and society. Racists are in the armed forces, they are in corporations, they are in universities, they are in the public and private schools, they are in Hollywood, they are in our churches and synagogues, they are in the media, they are within the judiciary, they are within Congress, they are clearly in the police force, and they are, regrettably, in the highest offices in government. They are our neighbors. They are Americans.
What must we do to stamp out the virus of racism? Martin Luther King believed that undeserved suffering by the victims and non-violent resistance was the balm that forced racists to confront their demons and change. This approach changed laws, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965 are examples of those victories. But unfortunately, I am feeling a profound sense that we have failed to purge this virus from our system. In Martin Luther King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” he said:
“We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”
The cure for the virus of racism lies with white Americans not with its victims. It is up to you to fix. The question is: Are you up to the challenge?