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[quote=Anonymous]Thank you anyway. Money and voting are a lot. Protests are just one facet. Your thoughts remind me of what Hannah Arendt meant when she wrote about the banality of evil. Don't misunderstand me. You are not evil. But people think evil things persist because of evil people. They don't. Being silent and self-interested is most of it. I also wonder what I would have done as a German in the Nazi era. I am not confident I would have stood up for Jews. Let's not minimize how complex and difficult the struggle against entrenched power dynamics is. I consider you an ally.[/quote]

I completely agree, and I know I am not evil. But I am aware of the concept of the banality of evil and of complicity by failure to object. I think when people think of evil or racism they think of Hitler or George Wallace. But really a lot of it is unconscious or ignorance or just standing by silently or averting one's gaze.

I consider myself an ally too. :) I just feel very discouraged, which I'm sure pales beside how you feel. I thought your earlier remark about talking to other whites was interesting because race issues are not something that really come up in my conversation with people of any race. I wouldn't be averse to talking about such issues but I don't bring them up, any more than I talk about religion or politics. I saw a huge Trump sign the other day in my neighborhood (a liberal MD neighborhood). I can't stand Trump or the things he says but it would never occur to me to say anything to the homeowner about it. If I saw a Confederate flag I would be disgusted but again, I wouldn't say anything unless the person tried to put it on my yard or give it to me. Do you discuss race issues a lot with non-African Americans? Do you initiate those conversations or do people bring it up to you?[/quote]

Well, like you, I'm 35 with a kid so I'm not hanging around in coffee shops much or talking with random people.  I sometimes bring it up in the vein of -- crazy week of news, huh?  But I only really "hang out" on with other moms with kids and it's a little awkward to have super serious conversations and then go need to stop a kid from eating something weird.  People always talk about going home to Thanksgiving and dealing with a racist uncle or some such thing so maybe that's when people generally have these types of conversations?  I don't know.  I post on Facebook.  But perhaps my 500 or so friends are really liberal because I rarely see a racist post I want to make an issue of.  One "friend" did post something supportive of Trump's Muslim ban and I, gently, gave her a piece of my mind.[/quote]

That's pretty much in line with my experience. I don't really do Facebook so I don't have that angle. I don't really have the racist uncle in my family. My 90 year old grandparents are quite anti-Muslim but of the NIMBY variety. As in, they don't want a mosque in their neighborhood, and they talk about being afraid to wear symbols of their Jewish identity in Muslim areas, but they don't think Muslims should be put on a list or excluded from the country. In fact they get quite upset over such ideas because it hearkens back to WWII. We've had discussions about the NIMBY stuff, which bothers me, but honestly they are 90 and they vote Democrat and they're not going to be out doing anti-anything. 
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