Two years ago, RFK Jr. said that black children with ADHD needed to be re-parented. When confronted by Rep. Terri Sewell from Alabama, he absolutely denied ever saying this. She showed him otherwise (the video is here – Bing Videos – by the way, Fox and Yahoo don’t show the part when he actually says these things). Kennedy, who is a lawyer and has no formal scientific training, is a mixed bag. On the one hand, his ideas about healthy food and attempts to change the way Americans eat is absolutely on target. His campaign against vaccines, however, has been proven many times to be based on conspiracy theories and false research. This, however, is something very different – this idea that children of one race need to be re-programmed – which is what this is – is racism.
As I listened to this video, I was reminded not only of the way black children had been treated throughout history – Rep. Sewell explains this very clearly – but also how Native American children were, for decades, taken from their families and sent to white families and boarding schools. They weren’t adopted legally – they were stolen. The Native American assimilation era first began in 1819, when the U.S. Congress passed The Civilization Fund Act. Let that soak in – Civilization. Many were also sent to schools to be re-educated in the ways of white America (The U.S. history of Native American Boarding Schools — The Indigenous Foundation). This “re-education” ran from 1860-1978 – yes, the year I graduated high school was the year this travesty ended.
I have heard people dismiss the idea of white privilege and systemic racism for years, and these kinds of revelations remind me that those dismissals are nothing more than racist lies. This is also why so many of our elected officials are trying to whitewash history. We see them continue with the purging of people of color from positions of authority and the attack on non-English speakers, regardless of citizenship status, that is running rampant in America. We will never be able to find healing until we admit that America has always struggled with issues of equality, and that our original sin is racism. We began by allowing only white men who owned property the right to vote and have slowly added rights to those who have been excluded. Maybe we should look at the real root cause of dysfunction and struggle – poverty – and try to change that. At the core of our problems is a lack of resources for some and too much for others. Instead of pointing at color or language or culture, maybe rampant greed should be addressed. Because the love of money is, truly, the root of all evil.
Prayer – God, heal our lostness and our unwillingness to be honest with ourselves, and give us hearts of generosity and love. Amen.
Today’s art is “No Racism” by Marc Lanclus.