I just registered today finally after having been a longtime reader. Go easy on me.

I was thinking about this today or at least something similar and that is what healing from a racist past looks like. People are quick to try and shut down BLM by saying get over it or all that happened a long time ago. And while they are right all that did happen a long time ago the actual healing process that needed to happen in regards to slavery and then the deplorable way black americans have had to live in this country and finally the status quo that many people expect minorities to not just be ok with but accept as their status and way of life. I know people that are good people that don't understand the BLM movement who just don't understand the anger and the outrage. These are otherwise very good natured and kind hearted people that are not racists. They simply do not understand that the healing process was never going to be a nice conversation and an agreement that we should all just get along. They don't get that we need to listen and to hear the venting the outrage and see the problems so that we can act and we can have an honest view of what has gone so wrong in our country and that there are many many many systemic problems that we have yet to deal with. Things like a complete and total lack of integration in our school systems.

Anyway, I am going to hijack this thread if I don't get to my point soon.

My point is until the obvious is right there in front of us and put on our plate to deal with we just accept the status quo and we assume that things are "pretty good". That's the importance I see in this election. We are seeing a last gasp effort of people who are for whatever reason terrified at living in a non white male controlled world. The sad part is many of these people firmly believe that they are on the right side of history. Thankfully Trump is bringing them out of the woodwork. They are right there and their ridiculous beliefs are on full display.... and we are going to reject their beliefs, their hatred, their bigotry in a crushing manner. I am excited for this election because I think this is the time where we as a country get to say we are done with the remnants of a past that divides. That it is not a viable way of life to quietly suppress people. That we will not isolate ourselves from the rest of the world.

That isn't to say that there won't be a ton more work to do to address the concerns of BLM. That has to continue but the two things (the movement and the Trump campaign) remind me that the ugliness needs to be exposed before we can really deal with it in a serious manner.

I am not surprised that in this day and age our country needs a presidential candidate to say the things that she is saying. I am surprised it has taken this long for us to really start to deal with the issues. Or at least it has taken this long to take up the charge of continuing to deal with the problems of our past.

There is a whole lot of work do be done, that's for sure.

What people need to understand is, someday THEY might be in the target group. I've always said that if you took all of these racist extremists and put them on an island where they were all of the same racial make up, they would soon find something different in other members, whether it be hair color, skin tone or something else, and those would be the targeted group. The only way some people can feel good about themselves is when they are suppressing someone else.