Names and statues

https://youtu.be/MLNVV75yoY8  (link to my You Tube blog)

(Opinions here are mine and mine alone)

I have a take on the controversy over 'names' and statues.

It goes like this: I grew up a Washington Redskin fan. Now I know it didn't bother me because I'm a white male and the names of sports teams are not offensive since I'm not Native American.

I never approved of Confederate statues because they were traitors to my country. But Americans who were slave owners didn't bother me and are not offensive because I'm not Black.

Now, I have, in the last few months, realized how insensitive I am to people of other color's emotions.

I have been, I think a majority of Americans have been "woke" to the feelings of people not like me and how names and statues offended them for years and years.

That's what I think is happening. And though I've lived through the original Civil Rights Movement and the unrest of the 60's (taking part in it, in fact) I wasn't fully awake.

I'm getting there.

I 'get' why names and statues of American heroes who were slave owners are offensive to other, non-white Americans. I get it.

I have much more to learn.

But now I know as never before that I must learn from Blacks and Browns and Asians about what they find offensive that doesn't touch me in the way it touches them.

I am cautiously optimistic that White America is become WOKE in way we never have been before.

That can only be good and lead to a better America if we can stay awake and listen and understand in our hearts and souls.

What could be bad about me and other white people truly understanding the weight that has been on the shoulders of people unlike me in color--who are 'people', just like me in their souls?

Ponder that. Really. Ponder that.