I am a racist. Join me!

Why I'm A Racist - by Ben Shader 1-30-18
I am a racist. I judge people based on their differences from me. I have been like this since middle school when I heard Spanish being spoken around me by schoolmates and I had no idea what was being said. Being called several names in another language while several others who understood the language laughed, was my introduction to hating others based on our differences. Or wait, maybe is was earlier, when I was taught by my religion that people in other religions were taught from birth to hate me for my differences. I was taught to be outraged at these "other" people. I was taught that their hate for me was wrong, while being taught to hate them at the same time. Insidious. I reacted to my racist tendencies as late as ten years ago, when doing youtube uploads and picking and choosing who to respond to based on the color of their skin or country of origin. Insanity. Yet that was me. And it still is. I just fight it with every breath now because I am aware of how ugly racism is.

Racism has deep roots. Most of us deny that simple fact, that we were exposed and are affected by it's powerful grasp. Most of us will continue to cling to our flags, our religions, our gods, our schools, our sports teams, our states, our countries and so many other devices designed to keep us constantly hating others. We live in an incredibly counterproductive society. Our inability to see others for simply being human like we are is killing us, literally. Look at war. Sometimes our hatred for others is so strong, we are willing to go die just to prove our point. When the American Indians were invaded, they were immediately judged and than slaughtered. It happened right here in Lake County where I currently reside. Settlers came into this pristine area and decided it wasn't enough to share it with the current residents and live together in harmony, so instead the Indians were rounded up and once again slaughtered. This is how racism triumphs, because we allow it to. We are lazy. We are weak. We are blind to our own short comings and our lack of an ability to fight back makes us the ugly racists that so many of us are.

Now I call all acts of discrimination "racism" because I don't care if it's based on sex, color, age, race, physicality, religion, or even my choice of medicine, cannabis. And yet many of us in the cannabis industry can relate to being discriminated against over our choices. Just think of the millions of crops burned by police forces doing the will of the people. All that medicine burnt to useless ash. And so much good could have been done with all of it, but racist cops and law makers decided they hated the medical cannabis patient just as much as they hated someone from another country or religion. This is why it blows my mind when I realize there still are racists who are active in the cannabis community. This is the highest point of hypocrisy and yet the cycle continues.

Our issue here is our inability to want to be called out on our own bullshit. No one likes to be wrong, but hear me out. At one point in my life I had to decide which was more important, my desire to always be right about something, or to not have the stigma of racism stamped boldly on my forehead. I chose the latter. I chose to be visible. I chose to be outed. I am ready to be rid of this disease for good. I am calling myself out and I am calling you out. If you think you aren't racist, you need to think again. The only way to stop being a racist is to admit that indeed you are a racist. Join me. Let's end racism once and for all.

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