We Just Don't Get It!

We Just Don’t Get It.

Truth Matters.

Group Think is dangerous.

Arrogance and Ignorance are fertile ground for hate.

I will tread carefully.

Last night we watched the movie “Till” a film about the brutal murder of a 14 year old black man in Money, Mississippi in the 1950’s.

Going in, I’ll be honest, I saw a few folks involved with the movie and was looking for their bias but felt none of that.

The film shows the ugliness of hate and it does it in a way that makes you squirm in your seat.

The prejudice of people.

And how group think can infiltrate the brains of human beings so they rationalize the most inhumane treatment of those who are different from them.

Emmett Till is a kid.

He didn’t understand the ridiculous rules of the South and because of the lies of white people, is brutally murdered and his killers are set free.

The story is about his mother and how she fought to make sure the world saw what hate in the South was capable of allowing to happen to people who were black.

There is so much more to the story, google it and hopefully it will haunt you as it is haunting me.

Go see the movie and sit there and remind yourself how easy it is to look at others and think “I would never do that” and then remind yourself we are all capable of dismissing, smearing and yes destroying those who we see as inferior and hide it under the guise of current culture and what was acceptable to the ruling class, at the time.

I do not know what it feels like to be a Black American and I never will. But as I look at the white people in the film, and how they rationalized unspeakable behavior, I can feel shame and try to use that shame to remind myself what group think can do to draw us apart and how evil often cloaks itself in ideology that may be acceptable to the mass’ (as hard as that is to believe) but I need to be strong enough to stand up to peer pressure and call out evil, even if it costs me dearly.

Again, I highly recommend you see this film. Oh, and do it on the big screen, in public, if you really want the full impact.