This article was written by iACT boardmember,

Christ Singh Khalsa.

“It’s an indulgence to sit in a room and discuss your beliefs as if they were a juicy piece of gossip.”—Robert Heinlein

We need your ideas and beliefs on causes and ways to heal racial intolerance.

The Red Bench is a search for meaning and life’s solutions from our community’s shared experience and wisdom. It’s an easy way to make Austin better —come join us and share your beliefs in our group discussions—without claim or blame. All who have experienced  racial intolerance understand how painfully unfair, and corrosive to self-esteem, it is.

No response can ‘fix’ it at the time—the anger and fear projected are too great. The causes must be dealt with ahead of time.

My Personal Experience:

It was late in the afternoon in south Austin. The cowboy had been drinking, so with slurred speech and erratic progress he wove his way down the street. I was across the street, walking the opposite direction. I was casually dressed, but was wearing a beard and dress turban as I always do in public (BTW: as a Sikh-American I have a white skin and I am a Texas native). The cowboy saw me and suddenly flashed into rage: “G__damn Arab, go the f__k back home!” he shouted. He then threw the open can of beer at my head.  It missed. I flashed a big smile, raised my arm in the ‘peace sign’ and loudly shouted in a deep Texas accent: ”Hey, how you doin’, good buddy??”  The cowboy dissolved in total confusion, and stumbled on….

RACE: the belief that because some groups of humans have different visual characteristics (ex: skin color, hair, facial features) they are biologically different.

RACISM: a practice based on ‘RACE’ that a ‘visual difference’ endows some  groups with a natural superiority over others.

“If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse, and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.”  —Desmond Tutu