Racism and Innocence

To introduce this article written by Roxy Manning, PhD, I’d like to share a short story about racism and innocence.

Many years ago, I was at the General Assembly for the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA). The speaker that day was Rev. Rebecca Parker, who was at that time president of the UUA. During her talk, she shared an experience she had while attending a conference on racism.

In one of the workshops, the two presenters, both African American women historians, spoke about the political history of Black women in the United States. …

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From Anger to Sadness; From Judgment to Compassion

“It’s hard to have sympathy for people who are dying of Covid. It’s their own fault!”

Those are the words I heard from a person who usually has lots of empathy and compassion for people and their troubles. I get why they said it.

If I guess their feelings and needs, perhaps:

  • Feelings: Frustrated, irritated, amazed, confused, confounded, angry.

  • Needs: Health/life, responsibility, awareness, shared reality.

I understand why he said what he did. We all have the same needs as my acquaintance. My reason for bringing this up is not to correct him (or anyone), but rather to contrast being in judgment with adding compassion to our needs/values. …

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