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The Seeds of Racism….

Stephen P. Watkins
8 min readMar 6, 2021

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….and Why We Need to Root it Out Through a National Truth and Reconciliation Commission

Imagine: you are an inquisitive little boy, six years old. You ask a million questions. One question for which you haven’t received a meaningful answer is this:

from Pexels, by Ketut Subiyanto

“Daddy, why do White people treat us bad, just because we’re Black? Is there something wrong with us?”

Countless times those questions have been asked, the querent only changing the color based on their own ethnicity.

At some point in a young Black child’s life, one (or both) of his/her parents will have to have “The Talk,” the warning about how to deal with authority figures (especially the police) in America.

from Pexels, by August de Richelieu

Keep your hands on the wheel, don’t reach for anything, listen to the police officer, don’t make sh*t-a** remarks….

The expectation among police officers — the ultimate symbols of authority everywhere— is that the people they stop must obey them. And nowhere is this truer than in Black communities. The police demand obedience and self-control, and they have problems when they confront…

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Stephen P. Watkins
Stephen P. Watkins

Written by Stephen P. Watkins

Top Writer in Politics. Author of “The ‘Plenty’ Book — the Answer to the Question: What Can I do to Make This a Better World?,” available on Amazon.com

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