The legacy of racism

Jenn at Reappropriate had the most heartbreaking post yesterday on the emotional burdern of racism.  It hurts to read it.  Part of the tragedy of racism is that it's like this huge elephant that stands between two human beings that should otherwise be able to connect with each other.  And if Jen's burden is to live with the effects of that, it is the burden of white people to live with the fact that we are the ones who put that elephant there and sometimes, reading posts like Jenn's that just hurts.  Who can blame her for her feelings about white people, as painful as they may be, especially to those of us who are trying to be good allies?  The sad fact is that this is the legacy of racism.  Racism hurts everybody and generations of millions of deeply wounded relationships takes a long, long, long time to heal.  We have to work on it, every day.  We have to never, ever give up.  It's not just the work of Black History Month; it's the work of a lifetime.