It’s far past time we end racism. We just need to commit and elect good leadership. While Trump, exemplified by his ignorant or trolling comments about shooting looters, is far worse than other presidents, none took on ending racism. While some have spoken out against it and even supported legislation to lessen it, none have committed to ending it.

No President has Committed to Ending Racism

For starters, I looked through this list of presidential commissions. None are about ending racism.

Or look for bills about ending racism using GovTrack.us. Nor do I see a Congressional Committee covering this topic. 

While my memory isn’t great, I remember that John Kennedy announced the goal of sending an American to the moon and back. That was in 1961. We committed to it before we knew if it was possible.

What Causes Racism?

Some say that racism is due to our culture and history. This is false. These might be where the seeds of racism are kept, but it continues to grow because we ignore it, we let the seeds take root. We’re not powerfully enough creating a culture of equality.

As an adult, I’ve learned that whenever I meet a new person, my brain judges them. With absolutely no effort on my part, it assesses everything about them. And it does it quickly. I don’t know if it gets 10% or 90% right. But when I think about it, it’s got to be closer to 10%. And when I check my feelings- they say 90%. In my commitment to ethics and morality, respecting God’s truth, I remind myself that people don’t choose what bodies they’re in. Nor do we choose our parents, our communities, or the country or culture we’re born into. Instead, life happens and we, first as babies, then as toddlers, then as little kids, react and learn as best we can. Life molds us. When I meet someone, I try to remember that this is just some random soul doing the best they can.

And this is just my ideas. Many people have confronted their own quirks and found wisdom. Many have given up the small-minded cultures they grew up in. Surely we can mine this and find many powerful ways to end racism

Is it Possible to End Racism in America?

Can we end racism?  If your answer comes to you quickly, you’re repeating an answer the culture gives you. The real answer is yes, even if we don’t know how to end it, yet. We can educate our children better. And we can educate ourselves better.

For instance, why didn’t I learn the above in school? Not only don’t we teach ways to overcome bias, we don’t even teach kids that brains judge! Brains try to figure stuff out and they use all the clues available. Some of the easiest clues are how people look, the color and shape of their faces. Plus the way they talk. It’s the most natural thing in the world to take what we learn about people and think it has something to do with how they look and sound. Having racist thoughts is very, very natural for ignorant humans. We all start out as babies- completely ignorant.

I’m not suggesting we lecture to our kids. Instead, we ask our experts in sociology, psychology and education to put together programs and try them out so we can discover what works well. All it takes is commitment, resources and effort, as does everything that’s worthwhile.

Let’s Start with Ourselves

If you are against racism, that’s a start. To do more, learn about how you’re still racist, intentionally, unintentionally, even how systemic racism has sheltered your community or left you privileged. To do more, share those lessons with others- with your children, your family, your community and your publications.

Let’s not Stop with Ourselves

Call your members of Congress to end racism. If they say they don’t know how, remind them it’s their job to learn or to assemble a task force that can- they have the wealth and expertise of the whole nation at their fingertips. Our job is to tell them it’s important to us.

Consider that we’ve given NASA $22 billion budget, much of which goes to our new goal of putting a human on Mars. Even though we don’t yet know how to do this! Still, we allocated the money, the focus, and thousands of people to make it happen. The president has announced that it’s a priority and has persuaded Congress to fund it.

With his crass, inarticulate comments about “looters and shooters”, and his attorney general distracting his base with comments about “far left extremist groups”, clearly Trump isn’t the president to end racism. Is Biden? He’s been in politics for many decades and hasn’t yet made this commitment…

If enough of us commit to supporting the end of racism, so will our leaders. Please sign this petition to end racism.