The horrific Arbery, Floyd, & Cooper stories have once again thrust the darkest parts of outright AND silent American racism back into the public eye.

I just keep trying to think how I'd react if George Floyd was my brother. Or if Ahmaud Arbery was my son.

The wild thing is its almost impossible to even imagine... my mind naturally won't accept a world where this type of cold blooded hate happens...

... but I realized something... my mind won't go there because I happen to be white. And we live in a country that is built for white people BY white people. THAT is my privilege. And it horrifies me.

If that seems hyperbolic... it isn't. For example:

- I've literally passed a counterfeit $20 (on accident), that was caught, and no police were called. I just pulled out another, had a laugh, and went home.
- George Floyd had the police called & was murdered in the street.

- On my run last week, I went into a worksite (uninvited at dusk) for a home being built on my street just to see the work being done.
- Ahmaud Arbery was shot dead at 1pm after jogging past two men... they followed him, confronted him in a worksite, & they gunned him down.

- Have you ever locked a car, or moved to the other side of a street based on skin color of the person approaching?

- The Cooper story, while less tragic, pulls the curtain back on THAT privilege that percolates just below the surface towards minorities (esp black America)

We have a major racism issue in America... and ignoring the broader issue of silent, persistent racism because you aren't a vocal racist, is not helping.

If you haven't seen Spike Lee's "Do the Right Thing" recently (or at all), I encourage you strongly to revisit it.

It's (intentionally) not an easy watch. It's racially charged, and when I saw it (as a young white kid from Utah) it was foreign in nearly EVERY way (time, place, mindset, racial understanding, etc.).

It came out in 1989, & watching it now feels almost prophetic in light of the Floyd murder.

It has helped me grapple with race in America, tacit racism, and helped me recognize how insidious quiet inequality in how we treat one another can be.

Ultimately, it also showed me that this form of silent racism has been with us all along. I didn't recognize it as a kid or young adult. My privilege didn't let me recognize it. But I recognize both now... the racism and privilege.

I hope these feelings of recognition help me get more educated and be more empathetic, be a better advocate, and move me to action that results in broad change...

Cuz I don't want to live in a country that sees the murders of black people in the street as acceptable collateral damage... It's police brutality. It's racism. And it's the current horrific reality our black brothers and sisters live in.