Jordan came to the studio to do the interview, a nice treat for us since we do mostly phone interviews. But Jordan lives here in the Hudson Valley and could meet us in person.
The interview itself did not cover many of the African Americans who have been killed by police or prison guard violence. We did discuss Samuel Harrell since his murder took place locally and is still being investigated.
We talked more about how racism persists in our society. Politicians in the past have used it to whip up the electorate and win elections. As long as political leaders in the past have approved the ethnic cleansing of Blacks, why then the towns and villages along the Hudson River could follow this example. Most smaller towns in the valley are without African Americans, a process we have talked about before on Activist Radio. Most were sundown towns at some point in their history.
Is it the hyper capitalism of our country that fosters racism? Did unrestrained capitalism perpetuate slavery? Or the genocide of so many native American peoples? Can a country that has never come to terms with its own crimes actually change its attitudes and its policies?
I picked the above picture since it shows some communication between the races. Black and white, we have to talk through our common history in order to banish racial fear and hate. As a white, I believe that white, privileged people have the most to learn. Blacks have known about the effects of a hyper racist society for hundreds of years.
