Doing The Right Thing

The death of  Ahmaud Arbery is a testament of the evil in individuals. The evil that is celebrated in some communities as self defence. Defence against something undeserving, something, different indeed something that should be relegated to the back of beyond.  The religious community around the world addresses such events with a call to prayer and teach them while young, teach children values and morals, right and wrong. Yet these men who killed another are moral men in the eyes of their community, they are protectors of right and wrong as defined by them. Their bias and xenophobic world view is a communal attitude, making it dangerous to be different. 

In the death of Ahmaud Arbery two world collide. In his death philosophies battle. Some view racism as the actions done only by whites, while other declare that racism is common to all-races hence to them all racism is equal, while others like Adam Hochman a lecturer at Macquarie University states that there are no different races but racialised  communities. While acts of racism may be equally found in all races, the impact of racism depends on the institutional structural support of the antagonists. White racism is commonly identified and fought due to the capacity of power to implement and defend this philosophy. 

In white racism we see the mix of culture, history and power capacitate institutional abuse of others through xenophobic actions. The foundation of recent racism in American society is founded on the rights of the first amendment - the right to have an opinion.  That right is applied in the ruthless attack of "protectors" of white communities from the "menace" of violent thieving criminals found in the form of blacks. The predators hunted and killed defenceless young men based on opinion, bias and stereotype. 

If racism is to be addressed, society must demand that even private opinions promoting racism are as immoral as the action. That private fantasies of racism are as deadly as acts of stereotypical abuse. For its the failure to address these private opinions of race though discussion on racism and its social impact on all of society including the white community. For as long as private discussion justify racism, institutional applications against racisms will not be successful. The bible states that as a men thinks so is he. Ones world-views and attitudes will impact institutional action and community welfare. People at institutional level should be held accountable for their private opinions, ie social media posts and conversations. 

The Institutional mishandling of the Ahmaud Arbery case, the institutional lack of accountability over the case and care is terrifying. We see that the failure in the individual moral campus and the application of immoral harmful views at institutional level, that will have long lasting impact on communities and individuals. 

The death of this young man, is more tragic as it reveals the antagonistic evil within American Society based on race. The Xenophobic normalcy in communities. The culture of racism, the existence of systemic racism and its impact on the culture for the next generation must be addressed today not just by the black community but by religious leaders, social leaders and political leadership of all walks of life.