When I saw the video of the police officer kneeling on George Floyd’s neck and killing him by suffocation, my first thought was that lynching black people is still a thing in America. I wept. I couldn’t believe what was happening. This white man was squeezing the life out of a black man, his hands in his pockets and looking around like he was daring someone to stop him. There was no rope and noose, but it was still a lynching.

My second thought was that this officer committed murder, plain and simple. I have to admit, this act paralyzed me. I didn’t know what to do. I felt helpless. The people watching while this happened in front of them had to have felt the same helplessness. What did Mr. Floyd feel as his life left him? I can’t imagine.

What did I do then? What could I say that would make a difference? I am a sixty-year-old white man who came from a tiny Arkansas town where not one black person lived. I didn’t know racism, mainly because black people didn’t live in my town. If they had, I’m sure I would have seen it first hand. The racism I saw on television didn’t make sense to me. All the people in my little town knew and were nice to each other. That is what I knew. What could I contribute to the plight of black people? So, I stayed silent.

That was the wrong response.

As a sixty-year-old white man, I have plenty to contribute to the discussion, even though I do not understand this hatred others have for people of color. I admit it, I don’t get it. I am privileged, not because I make or have a lot of money. I’m a peon whose opinion is generally not considered to be important. I am privileged only because I am white. I have had advantages only because I am white. The only way I can relate to this is to imagine it happening to one of my children.

I’m reminded of Matthew McConaughey’s performance in the movie, A Time to Kill. He defended a black man accused of murdering white men who raped his daughter. Matthew’s character described the atrocities committed on the girl, and then asked the jury to imagine if the girl was white. Why can’t we imagine what would have happened if George Floyd had been white? And why does there have to be a difference?

That is exactly why I, and other people like me, should not stay silent. Maybe one voice from some random old, fat, white guy has little to no effect on racism in this country, but millions of voices from men like me cannot be ignored. Racism is wrong. Hatred of people who are different is wrong. White supremacy is wrong on every level. Just stop it!

I wish I had a large following for this blog, not because I want to sell a lot of books (which, of course, I do), but so that I would have a louder voice against this infection of vile hatred in our country. Whatever happened to the idea that ALL people are created equal? It saddens me that so many people have this infection in their souls. That infection is far more dangerous than any corona virus we have faced.

I say to you, don’t stay silent because you think this does not affect you. Silence changes nothing.