Injustice is Real

I decided to post this on LinkedIn because I don’t do Facebook. I am posting this in my personal capacity.

Something about this time is different, in that more people are reacting.  As Trevor Noah observed, not even Fox News could come up with an explanation of why a white police officer sat on a man’s neck for eight minutes while the man was slowly dying. I imagine that this scene would have been at home at Auschwitz. Why do I bring up Auschwitz? For two reasons.

First, people of color in America face a variety of direct and indirect injustice every single day. From cops, at work, etc. This video is a tip of a huge iceberg. But most of the injustice is invisible to other people – well-meaning people – who are not the subject of these injustices. There is not a public service announcement, “attention, stop what you are doing, we are about to commit injustice to people of color, please watch carefully.” So the impression many people get is that there is no injustice, that everyone has the same opportunity, etc. This is simply not the case. I am a Russian-speaking Jewish immigrant who came to the United States as a refugee escaping harsh government-sponsored persecution in the Soviet Union. There is a large community of people like me in America. When years after leaving the Soviet Union as a refugee, I caught up with my classmates from a Russian school where I faced persecution as Jewish student, they had no recollection or perception of persecution of Jews. Sounds familiar?  It wasn’t happening to them, so things seemed fine to them. I once read an obituary about a Russian woman who “graduated from high school in Riga in 1943,” which is eerily normal except that at the same time thousands of Jews were crowded in a ghetto in the center of Riga and were being slaughtered. There is a sense of normalcy for people who are not facing injustice. To them, everything seems ok because – in reality -- it is ok. I often wondered how people could support Trump’s candidacy after he called Mexicans rapists and criminals. I think the answer is that – generally – many of Trump’s white supporters weren't triggered by those words because subconsciously, there is a belief that no matter what, they will be ok. And they are most likely right. Unless you were a minority or a Jew or a member of the resistance in Norway or France or in Italy or Latvia or in the Netherlands or in whatever country during WWII, you were probably ok compared to people who were being slaughtered. That doesn’t mean people weren’t getting slaughtered. If we don't see people of color mistreated it doesn't mean it's not happening.

Second, this message is to members of those members of the Russian-speaking Jewish immigrant community who have not thought about or recognized these connections. We should see parallels between the plight of people of color in America and our experiences in the Soviet Union. Too often we hear that affirmative action has addressed inequality in America.  It’s untrue. Have many of us talked to our colleagues? Maybe an African American law firm partner who is always taken for a secretary or an associate in client meetings? These injustices continue at all levels of the society. Many of the steps our adopted society has taken are equivalent to “Safety First” slogans that NASA plastered everywhere ahead of the Space Shuttle disasters. It’s the equivalent of “thoughts in prayers.” Having come to America as refugees, we should recognize this, we should teach our children to be tolerant, to embrace a diverse America, America that is built on the rule of law.

Our entire community should recognized these parallels to recognize them and to show empathy for the plight of people of color in the United States. Yes, we weren’t here when all of this started, we didn’t study American history, and don’t have a lot of the context, but we should not doubt that just because we are not seeing this injustice, it’s not happening. 

Let's take small steps. Talk to our children. Talk to our community. Think about our own views. Talk to our parents. Talk to our company leaders. Vote. Stop believing soundbites about equality. Let's each do at least one thing.