Grudge Against Racism

Sometimes sorry isn’t enough….

So, one of my many shortcomings is a tendency to hold a grudge. Having grown up mostly on my own I came to see the few friends I had as the most important things in my life. Conversely, I tend never to forget individuals who played a direct role in making the tough times in my life even harder. I have always struggled with the idea of “forgive and forget” precisely because I rarely had the power to advance solely through my own means. Forgiving is one thing, but forgetting has always been quite another, especially when the transgression clearly led to a reversal or setback that I would never be able to make up for on my own. And when I look at things that I have been denied or have had taken away from me because of the mistreatment of others I’m not always mature enough to let go of my anger. Of course, the most critical issue in all of this has always been clearly determining how much of a mistake or failure is the result of my own issues versus being undermined or mistreated by another.

White and black, everyone struggles to understand and explain the setbacks they experience in their lives. What must be understood however is that in addition to all the explanations white Americans must consider for their failures, African-Americans have one additional potential cause: racism. And further, it is often quite difficult to clearly identify the…