The Good News Is...

Underneath the surface of our current political climate runs the pulse of regular America.  By regular America, I mean the hardworking men and women of this country that are comprised of many ethnic backgrounds, races and cultures.

Right after the presidential election, I was uncertain as to how I was going to interact with white people that I didn't know.  With our country being divided because of the rhetoric that our president has espoused during his campaign, I didn't know if I would encounter someone that was filled with hate, hope or indifference.

As of late, I have run into white people that have looked right though me as if I didn't have the right to occupy the same space as they.  But I have encountered more white people that have gone out of their way to greet, engage and acknowledge me...almost as if they were silently saying that they do not subscribe to the ideologies that have divided our nation.

Some of my fellow African Americans may be thinking why I should care whether "they" acknowledge me or not.  I care because there are so many of us; black, white, Asian and Latino that are willing to be united into a world where no one race dominates and decides what the other races are entitled to.

In my very own church, I am seeing the call to arms to love each other just a little bit deeper and to care just a little bit more.  More importantly, I am seeing the call to action taking root in the actions of people.

We will never be a perfect society.  We will always have our flaws.  There will always be someone who will think that they are more entitled for reasons that may escape the rest of us.

But what this current administration is teaching us is that we are all challenged to do better.  We have to.  And as a result, maybe the world will gradually evolve into a better place for all of us.  With hope and action, we can and must do better by one another.  We must look out for our sisters to ensure that their rights are  not being violated.  We must care about other nationalities because as I've said before, when justice for one fails, it fails for all of us.  It will be a slow and gradual process, but it will happen because true change comes from within.

In the next few years, we will be tested.  There will be triumphs that will astound and bewilder us.  But we must continue to fight for the best in us because that is whats at stake.

Billionaires who know nothing about struggling are running this country.  They are making decisions that will impact all of us.  But we will survive and we will be better.

But it starts with changing how we first and foremost view ourselves and then morph into how we view others.

The good news is that we the people have a chance for a do over.  We know that the majority of us do  not subscribe to racist ideologies.  We know that other minorities are not the cause of our problems.  We know that the rights of one reflects the rights of all.

So take comfort in that as we move forward!

~ J.L. Whitehead