Anti-Racism Reflection of January 9, 2022

Like many of you, watching the video of George Floyd being murdered made me very uncomfortable. I thought about what would stop murder-by-cop, and what I personally was going to do about it.  And then embarrassment pushed me into action.

Some of you may have heard the story of the Red House eviction crisis in Portland, Oregon, in 2020.  At first an outcry over an afro-indigenous family being evicted from their long-held property.  Then the news report that seemed to blame the son for the events leading up to the eviction.

As the story went, years ago the son had been charged with a drug related crime, and to pay for his defense, the family had taken out a mortgage on the home they had owned free and clear.  Then later the family had stopped making payments on the mortgage, and the son had engaged in a series of efforts to avoid repayment and foreclosure.  This went on for years.

A couple of days after the story, a young acquaintance mentioned the crisis.  Smugly, I recited the causes I had heard on the news as justification for what was happening.  He then took me to school on all the ways institutional racism had contributed to the crisis. I was embarrassed.

He explained how institutional racism in the courts treated BIPOC defendants differently from white defendants. And how lenders preyed upon BIPOC families by denying them the same loans as white families.

At first, I was in denial. But this young man was now telling me I did not understand how embedded racism was in the institutions of America, and how outcomes were so different for white people versus BIPOC people.  Then and there, I committed to do my homework.  And I was horrified at what I began to learn, especially about the dog-whistle racism in politics.

I am so glad that BUF, with these reflections, is pursuing anti-racism.  Change—dismantling institutional racism—happens person by person.

I am Rupert Ayton, and I am living with intention.