... and having one group proclaim that something is "over" enough so that other people "ought" to get over it, is part of the problem. As Giok rightly says, "We all have to put these hatreds behind us." Trouble is, there's so much fear woven into these issues that the hatreds and fears are all balled up together, and most of us, most of the time, have not found a way yet around them except to turn away to go think about it a little more.

There are, however, some good tools one can use.

United to End Racism (UER) is a group of people of all ages and backgrounds, in many different countries, who are dedicated to eliminating racism in the world. Through its work, UER has developed a new and important understanding of racism and the relationships between racism and other oppressions. This understanding includes how racism and other oppressions are inflicted upon people, how they damage people, how this damage is passed from generation to generation, how people can resist such damage, and how people can recover from it. Our understanding is that racism is unintentionally internalized by those who have been targeted, operating within the targeted group to make that group's work to end racism more difficult. UER has also developed an understanding of the effects of racism on members of oppressor groups and how racist attitudes are installed on and persist in them.

~Susan