Boons & Burdens of Valuing Antiracism

A story of justice, fear, sacrifice, and salvation

I met Siam when he attended one of The Contraband Wagon’s monthly round-robin discussions on race. Whenever anyone new attends, I always ask what brought them. Siam’s answer was extensive. He told a story of engaging in international travel and business, experiencing multiculturalism over time, and igniting his revolutionary spirit. It’s not the first and hopefully won’t be the last time that one with a revolutionary spirit finds their way into one of my conversations.

As soon as I heard Siam’s story, I knew I had to get him on my show for a 2-hour conversation on race. It was impossible for me to explore his wealth of knowledge, experience, and wisdom in a group conversation. Luckily, Siam was amenable to a one-on-one. He appeared on The Contraband Wagon, and we had a wonderful conversation covering dimensions of antiracism I spoke about for the very first time. One of the greatest benefits of these conversations is I receive consistent proof that dialogue and sharing are necessary elements of building true community and finding solutions to problems.

In the linked portion of our conversation below, Siam is exasperated about the reality that Trump says and does outrageous things on social media, but the algorithms do not censor or suppress him. Even when what he’s writing is objectively racist. He couldn’t believe there’s no one speaking up who works for these companies.

“There’s not a single voice that’s like, ‘guys, there’s no debate about this; this is racist?’”

In reality there probably are. Were. It’s likely any social media employee who took or would take an action remotely resembling calling out Trump’s racism was replaced long ago. There is a hard limit to how close any threat to power can get to that power before it becomes a target. Most threats to racism, even tangentially, are eliminated “Squid Game”-style and by various other unjust means.

That brings us to the problem of fear. I told Siam that I have been the lone person standing for justice and antiracism in unjust and racist situations many times. In a crowd. He was somewhat incredulous.

“Nobody else got it? They couldn’t tell?”

Oh they could tell. How do I know? Because every single time, I saw their faces. Faces filled with shame, sorrow, self-loathing, and disappointment. Sometimes envy. Everyone imagines that they’ll be the hero, but acting the hero is a radically different experience.

Many choose not to live a value of justice because fighting for justice in an unjust world will always require sacrifice. Most fear that sacrifice and never confront or question that fear. One goal of my work is show people the benefits of making that sacrifice. Together. These are benefits that are rarely discussed and/or trivialized in deceptive ways to ensure we remain divided and controllable. Community. Empathy. Emotional intelligence. The deepest levels of love. Enhanced communication. Learned fearlessness. Shared growth. Security. Power. Innovation. Elevation.

These are the rewards of standing for justice. The negative consequences? Those are not and will never be within our control. What is within our control is our choice of values. I’ve taken on antiracism as a value for my life. For my ancestors. For my past, present, and future self. For my family. For my friends. For my partner. For my students. For my country. For the world.

I’ll be standing for that value in my speech and most importantly in my actions. If you would like to join me in this effort by subscribing, joining my Patreon, checking out my YouTube channel, leaving a comment, or becoming a guest on the show, your support is what makes the difference. Thank you for reading and helping me live out the value I’ve chosen for my life.