Foresight is 2020

I
 know that we usually say hindsight is 20/20, however given the last couple of weeks, I fear that we as a society are still blind to our past and refuse to learn from those who came before us.
African Americans won their “right” to be treated equally under the law in 1868 with the passage of the 14th Amendment. Then in 1870, we added the 15th Amendment to the Constitution which specified that African Americans had the right to vote. This is a right that should have been a given when all people were guaranteed full civil rights (14th Amendment), however, that didn’t happen.
For an amazingly brief period of time, African Americans were afforded the unprecedented ability to vote — albeit under great risk of physical and economic risk.
Then when Reconstruction ended in 1877, the Jim Crow era was ushered in where white society continued to oppress African Americans for another 100 years.
Fast forward to World War II when the Civil Rights Movement began. From the early 1940s to the 1970s, the African American community stepped up their efforts — again at great risk to their lives and livelihoods — to attempt to gain equality as citizens of the United States.
We saw peaceful protestors attacked by people spitting on them, throwing projectiles, turning fire hoses on them, turning loose attack dogs on them. We saw churches being bombed, lynchings being overlooked, and unthinkable actions taken against African Americans simply trying to be treated as an equal in the land of the free.
I hope that there isn’t a one of us who look back on the Civil Rights Movement and think that the status quo of that time wasn’t abhorrent.
However, I also have begun to fear that we haven’t learned a whole lot in the last 50 years. 
As I watch what has unfolded since the murder of George Floyd, I feel like we have regressed back to the Civil Rights Movement. 
I’ve heard it said that we are living a real-life bad Groundhog’s Day … But I wonder if maybe it isn’t a bad thing.
No one denies that the criminal activities of the looters, rioters and agitators are reprehensible. These people need to be stopped and prosecuted for their illegal actions. The groups that are initiating violence against the police and the protestors need to have the full strength of the law brought against them.
However, we also need to open our eyes and our hearts to the fact that the Black Lives Matter movement is not emphasizing the idea that “only” Black lives matter. 
I will fully admit that when this movement began, I was very on board with the All Lives Matter response. Don’t get me wrong — I do believe that all lives matter, but I also have had to take a difficult look at what my life as a white person in society has given me in the form of privilege.
Because it has.
I didn’t grow up rich, and I raised my children as a single mother, so my life hasn’t been cushy. But, my parents are still married. I grew up with a father who was always there and provided me and my siblings with a nice home. We had dinner every night as a family and I never wondered if there would be food on that table to feed all seven of us.
Though I get nervous if I’m pulled over by a police officer, it’s not a fear for my life, it’s a fear that I may have to pay a ticket because I exceeded the speed limit. 
I warned my children when they were young about talking to strangers and about looking both ways when crossing the street.
It never crossed my mind to warn them about making sure they were mindful of every action they took in the presence of the police.
I had the normal worries of any parent of my children meeting with an accident, but never — in all of my worries — did it cross my mind that they may end up the target of someone pulling a gun on them, whether that be someone driving by them as they were running through their neighborhood or being drawn on by a member of the police force.
As hard as it is to admit, my children and I enjoy the benefits of white privilege. It’s not something I am proud of because it’s not something I asked for or strived to achieve. It’s simply a fact of society. The color of our skin gives us a leg up. 
Believe me, I have worked hard to get where I am and I still worry whether or not I will be able to maintain a roof over my head and provide for myself and my children.
But, as I say that, I also have to be very real and admit that as I am writing this article, I’m sitting on my couch in my air-conditioned house, typing on my computer and watching my 55-inch television.
I have money in my bank account, I am able to pay my bills, I have life and health and auto insurance. I was able to help both my children buy cars. Both were able to go to college.
I am able to cover health issues with absolutely no concern about being able to provide for my family’s more immediate concerns.
These are all things that I have taken for granted for all of my life, because I could. 
I often talk to my American History students that we as humans run from conflict. We like to gloss issues over — especially those we think don’t affect us — by writing them off saying that it isn’t our fight and that someone else will fight the fight. It makes us feel better to think that maybe the situation isn’t so bad and that it is over-exaggerated.
But, when the issue is brought home, we as humans also rise to the challenge.
George Floyd’s death has brought this issue home, so now it is time for us to realize that we are living in the year 20/20 … we need to see clearly that the status quo needs to change and that we all — regardless of race — must change. We must be better. We must be color blind, but see color vividly and beautifully.