A life of privilege - part I

I have never been on the wrong side of discrimination.  I have lived a life of relative privilege.  Don't get me wrong, I have worked very hard in my life to get where I am today.  However, I had a great start in life.  Both my parents and my sister were there to support me every step of the way.  Both my parents had steady jobs, and we ate together as a family almost every night.  I went to school in one of the finest public school systems in the city of Indianapolis where my teachers and coaches challenged me to think and to always take the next step to reach my highest potential.  While I may not have worn the latest in fashion, I had new clothes to wear at the beginning of every school year.  I went to a great public college, where the only thing that I really had to worry about was to study hard, have fun (though not too much fun), and challenge myself.  I am a product of my environment.  I have been one of the lucky ones.  Thankfully, my wife and I have been fortunate to be able to provide even better lives for our four children than we experienced.  So, yes, I have lived a life of privilege, and I have taken advantage of the things I have received in order to hopefully give back to society and serve the greater good.

Unfortunately, not everyone has had the same advantages that I have been fortunate to have received.  The world we live in is not always fair.  But I would like to think that we are doing what we can to level the playing field, so that everyone has a chance at the American dream.  That is why I have always believed in America.  That is why I am proud to be an American.

What happened in Charlottesville, Virginia this past weekend is not my America.  The individuals who carried torches, shields, and Nazi and Confederate flags are not my America.  White nationalists are white supremacists.  They are not my America.

While I would like to believe that no one is defined by the color of their skin, I am not naïve enough to discount that I, as a white man, have enjoyed distinct advantages over men and women of color.  I am not naïve enough to discount that I have enjoyed distinct advantages over white women.  And because of Charlottesville, while I am proud to be an American, I am ashamed to be a white man.

Bigotry and discrimination has no place in my America.  Race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religion - it doesn't matter.  We are all equal in my America.  There was a time when I thought that we had come so far as a country.  But the events of the past weekend have shown us all that we have not come nearly far enough.

I remember visiting the Holocaust Memorial on Boston's Freedom Trail this past summer.  There is a poem inscribed on one of the monuments there, that I believe is also inscribed on the U.S. Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C.  The poem is called, "First they came..." and was written by a German Lutheran pastor who had initially supported Adolph Hitler's rise to power in Nazi Germany.  Martin Niemoller eventually spoke out against Hitler and was subsequently arrested and placed in a concentration camp.  He was later liberated by the Allied Forces in 1945.  The poem is one of my favorites, and I think it summarizes what many of us are feeling right now:

"First they came for the Socialists,
and I did not speak out -
Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out -
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out -
Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me - and there was no one left to speak for me."

Let the events of this past weekend serve as a reminder - we are all Americans.  It doesn't matter whether you are white, black, brown, yellow, or red.  It doesn't matter whether you are gay or straight.  It doesn't matter whether you are male, female, or transgender.  It doesn't matter whether you are Catholic, Jewish, Protestant, Hindu, Buddhist, or Muslim.  It doesn't matter whether you first learned to speak English or another language.  It doesn't matter whether you were born here or whether you moved here later.  We are all Americans.  That is what this country stands for - and we need to stand up.  Or some day there will be no one left to stand up for us.