Perspective Matters: " I had no idea."

During this  PANDEMIC YEAR,  I've  spent lots more  time walking and reading.  In morning walks I notice homes , and trees, and squirrels and people and yard signs. The yard signs have often brought  focus to my meandering steps and thoughts. My reading has ranged from articles about elections and pandemics to books about myth, spirituality and history. Among the many books I chose, I must say "The Warmth of Other Suns", by Isabel Wilkerson was most enlightening.

The detailed story of the "Great Migration" of African American people from the South to the North and West from 1915-1970 carries insights on the history of this nation and her people that affected me profoundly.  

The book changed my perspective and rearranged  the paradigm that frames my understanding of history and culture in the U.S.A.

I'm a white man who sees himself as enlightened, intelligent, and somewhat knowledgeable about America. "White Privilege" is a concept that intellectually I could probably define.  

This book lays bare the structures , systems, practices, laws, and customs that entrenched white privilege in the South  in the years following the Civil War .  These activities reversed the progress promised by the Emancipation Proclamation. People were driven  to leave their homes and families to seek freedom in the "Great Migration".   I learned  not only the statistics, facts, and demographics of this massive movement but the personal stories of those involved, in particular three individuals who left the South for New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles.

The reading of this story caused me for the first time to truly listen to day to day indignities, strictures, and systems deliberately imposed upon people solely because of the color of their skin. I heard these stories from the perspective of the individual and began in some small way to  to comprehend the impact upon them.  

I have begun to consider the African American people I have known in my life and how they and their families fit into this historical event, the "Great Migration." 

Most profound, this has got me thinking more and more about how systemic racism pervades every aspect of life in the U.S.A.

And how my ignorance about "White Privilege" contributes to this awful, unjust system.