White People and Racism - The Hate U Give

A few minutes ago I returned with my family from seeing the movie:  The Hate U Give.   It may help a lot of White People - if they see it.   In Evanston, Illinois the audience was perhaps 60% Black and 40% White.

A key part of the movie depicts the killing of a Black teenage boy whose "weapon" was a hairbrush.

The horrors Blacks face was vividly depicted when the heroine of the movie grabbed her (former) close White friend's hairbrush out of her backpack and "terrorized" her standing over her with the hairbrush without touching her.    The White girl could no longer simply stereotype Blacks.

I grew up in an All-White world in Indiana.   I have lived for 14 years as the "token" White of an otherwise Black family.

I could identify with the Whiteness that pushed and crowded Blacks in this movie.   While I am not totally naive about how "White" I remain, the movie pushed plenty of buttons for me.

The movie was wonderful in Not saying at all that Blacks are good and Whites are bad.   There were Black villains and White good guys.

At the same time it made clear how prevalent racism is and how it hurts People of Color.  It made clear the critical need to end the killings.   It also made clear that Racism goes deeper than simply relating the horrible killings of White cops.

Until and unless we White Folks are forced out of the safety of our White Worlds, we will continue to support police killings of Blacks.    Hopefully - this movie will help us move out of our comfort zones confronting racism and ending it.

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