The subtleties of racism don’t kill you in minutes, but they are deadly. What’s needed is a communal experience that teaches us we comprise one beautiful human mosaic.

Roderic Pettigrew, PhD, MD, and Rep. John Lewis at the 2016 A Candle In the Dark Awards Gala of Morehouse College. Rep. Lewis received the Candle Award for achievements in civil rights and public service. Dr. Pettigrew is a previous award recipient.

Many were appalled by the Central Park incident where a woman used the ethnicity of a peaceful visitor and a 911 call in a failed effort to subjugate him based on his color. However, this incident was actually a service to the nation since it unveiled just how pervasive racism is in our society. As a majority person, she knew that this core racism is so systemic, and its actuation so predictable, that she could easily weaponize it. She knew there is an imbalance of power based purely on a trivial difference in skin tone. If ever there was a question about this attitude and behavior existing broadly in our society, the Central Park incident answered it. It exists, it is real, and it has resulted in multiple shocking deaths that the world has now witnessed in anguish.

When the death of Houstonian George Floyd was observed, his torture at the knee of a purveyor of this naked truth was just too much to bear. When George took his last breath, so did the national tolerance for the societal ill that took his life and the lives before him… Continue reading.