Is Racism like the Rhizome Network Underlying and Interconnecting all the Redwoods in the Forest?
Can the BIPOC System become such a network of communication and influence?
The more they learn of these oldest and largest members of the interdependent network of living beings on earth, the more evident becomes their interdependence. I’m now seeing all living things through indigenous eyes, as living beings worthy of individual recognition as all contribute to life. All the redwoods, like all trees, have networks of fluids that pull water and nutrients up from the soil to the leaves that use sunlight, water and minerals to make oxygen and sugar, which then flows down to provide the energy for the trees to grow. The intertwined root systems of the trees intermingle with a fine network of fungal rhizomes that receive sugar from the trees and connect all the trees allowing them to communicate with one another so that if one is infected with a pest, others will be notified so they can activate their defenses and not be damaged as well and if one senses drought, others get that information through the mycorrhizal fungi network alerting all to activate water conservation practices. There is much to learn of the details but the mutual benefit is amazing.
I have come to see racism as such a system undergirding all the institutions in our world, mutually influencing one another so that the racism is ubiquitous. It is everywhere and is integrated with other oppressive elements: sexism, homophobia, now transphobia, and religious intolerance. It is endemic in every element we depend upon: agriculture, real estate, education, medicine, business, industry, transportation, law, criminal justice/injustice, politics, etc. All together these systems of oppression interact and support one another. Politicians use the system intentionally, apparently.
Consequently some neighborhoods do not contain everything people need, so they have to travel further using more gas or time on public transportation to get everything on their shopping list and still endure the insult of being watched as they shop. Studies show the targeted populations, Black, Indigenous and other People of Color (BIPOC) often have to pay more for their cars and real estate, which may be restricted in some areas. Research continues to show that for BIPOC in this 21st Century, even now, wages are limited, promotions not readily given, needed tax benefits not available, medical care compromised, policing biased, juries not likely to be peers, judges sometimes compromised by need of prisons for prisoners to fulfill contracts for prison labor, prohibitions on unions that could mitigate against unfairness, and political gerrymandering weakens voting power. These multiple forms of discrimination account for the fact that economic inequality in the US is the highest in all G7 nations. What’re BIPOC to do?
African American friends and colleagues have implied to me that they recognize the system is there and know they have to create a life, create their lives, informed and influenced by the racist system, in spite of it. One friend said to me it requires that every morning she don a raincoat, like a suit of armor, to make it through the day. I said, “I don’t understand how you manage to stay sane.” She said, “All of us don’t.”
I wonder if the BIPOC System can become like the underground network of mycorrhizal fungi that connect all the redwoods, providing a system of communication that enables sharing resources and strategies for coping to offset the ubiquity of systemic oppression?
What should the rest of us be doing in the meantime? Do we prefer our nation to be so biased, so inhumane? Does it not hamper BIPOC creativity and productivity when people have to be vigilant to deal with everything from microaggressions to unfair business dealings to danger from being assaulted or even shot? Would it not benefit us all if the biases and unfairness were not there? Would not more people be more creative and productive if all of us felt free and empowered to be the best we can be?
I believe that we would prefer a better world, motivated toward goodness, fairness, and justice. I am certain it would economically benefit us all if every citizen were able to be their best, most creative and most productive at all times without having to be constantly vigilant. I am also certain there is much we can do at every level of society to make ours a better world. How to do better will be the topic of upcoming newsletter.
References
Achieving Racial and Ethnic Equity in U.S. Health Care, The Commonwealth Fund, Retrieved from the Internet at https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/scorecard/2021/nov/achieving-racial-ethnic-equity-us-health-care-state-performance, 9/4/2022.
Do Private Prison Contracts Fuel Mass Incarceration? Brennan Center for Justice, Retrieved from Internet at https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/do-private-prison-contracts-fuel-mass-incarceration 9/4/2022.
Experts Say It’s Rare That ‘A Jury of your Peers’ Applies to African Americans, Seattle Medium. Retrieved from the Internet at Experts%20Say%20It's%20Rare%20That%20A%20'Jury%20Of,Peers'%20Applies%20To%20African%20Americans&text=Throughout%20the%20country%2C%20African%20Americans,been%20convicted%20of%20a%20felony. 9/4/2022
Garcia, Emma (8/2/22) Schools are still segregated and black children are paying a price, Economic Policy Institute. Retrieved from the Internet at https://www.epi.org/publication/schools-are-still-segregated-and-black-children-are-paying-a-price/ , 9/4/2022.
How do Taxes affect Income Inequality? Tax Policy Center, Retrieved from the Internet at https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/briefing-book/how-do-taxes-affect-income-inequality 9/4/22.
Impact of Voter Suppression on Communities of Color, (1/10/22) The Brennan Center for Justice. Retrieved from Internet at https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/impact-voter-suppression-communities-color
Racism Has Shaped Public Transit, and It Is Riddled with Inequities, Urban Edge, Retrieved from the Internet at https://kinder.rice.edu/urbanedge/2020/08/24/transportation-racism-has-shaped-public-transit-america-inequalities 9/4/2022
Schaeffer, Katherine, 6 Facts about Economic Inequality in the US, Pew Research Center Retrieved from Internet at https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/02/07/6-facts-about-economic-inequality-in-the-u-s/, 9/4/2022.
Unions Help Reduce Disparities and Strengthen Our Democracy, 4/23/21, Economic Policy Institute, Retrieved from the Internet at https://www.epi.org/publication/unions-help-reduce-disparities-and-strengthen-our-democracy/
What the data say about police brutality and racial bias—And what reforms might work. 6/19/20, Update 5/26/21, Nature, Retrieved from the Internet at https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-01846-z
Is Racism like the Rhizome Network Underlying and Interconnecting all the Redwoods in the Forest?
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/pbs-making-black-america-details-thriving-while-excluded/ar-AA12Avyp
Sadie Alexander (left) was the first Black woman to earn a Ph.D. in economics, in 1921. She was denied work as an economist. More than 100 years later, economist Lisa Cook (right) is the first Black woman to serve on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors.
EPI 05/25/22
(I failed to get the photo, but you can find it on EPI web page.)
How much unretrievable intellectual excellence have we destroyed because of our fear of BIPOC and women of all races competition in all walks of life? I'm glad we will never know.
One complaint I've always heard concerning all minorities is., "Why can't they assimilate into our white culture?" Like the rhizomes of much flora, minorities have always had to develop systems to enable them to manage to live side by side with us, while we enjoy the white privilege we claim does not exist. We deny them access to all the economic, educational, and social systems that would enable them to assimilate.
Now we find ourselves in a situation in which we need to have a functioning relationship with all minorities if we are going to save our democracy. Our republic.
James Baldwin said that our failure is our inability to forgive ourselves for beng white. We are unable, as a race, to examine ourselves, to recognize our failures, and make the course corrections that would enable us to live at ease with the rest of civilization. We have this engrained fear that all the minorities we have mistreated would treat us with the same hatred we have shown them should they ever have an equal footing and legislative representation.
BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and women seem to have a greater determination to fight against oppression than white people in general, because we have forced them to fight tooth and nail for every ort from the community table. They are hardened by the struggle while we are weakened by resting in our white privilege.
It is time we straight white Christian men and women, make an effort to assimilate with our diverse, rich, broad, and accepting society.