0 The Injustice of Indifference

Recently, I was on Facebook, when I came across something that disgusted me...Well actually, that happens pretty often, but I digress.

I saw a status written by a young women who apparently discussing  her previous night out, she said:

"Ugh I'm definitely going to be banned from all Philly cabs or be the target of a terrorist attack at some point. I totally told this dbag cab driver to go back to his own country last night lol"

But I wasn't so much surprised that she would post something like that, after all, America hasn't come that far in terms of cultural sensitivity and acceptance.

And just because this guy is in office doesn't mean that everything's cool either.

What shocked me even more were the reactions to what she said, one of her friends commented, "USA USA USA", while another responded, "Haha, this just made my day."

I sat and thought to myself, "How should I respond to something like this?" 

Then, I began to think of how many times I've been in arguments with people via Facebook for similar things and at the end of the day, it just seemed to be a waste of time.

That made me ask myself, "Should I respond to this?"

So, I did what most people of my generation does when they face a dilemma... 

I made a Facebook post about it. 

I informed my friends of these comments and asked for their advice on what I should do. One said, "I think you need to say something... A lot of people who say stuff like that think they're in the majority... They think it's the status quo."

I responded, "Yeah, but I just hate arguing with people who don't even know why their wrong."

What he said next had a profound effect on me, here's what he told me: 

"Don't say something because it's fun [or convenient], say something because its important."

At that moment, I realized that I almost fell into the trap of apathy and indifference which many Americans fall into when it comes to issues of discrimination.

Far too often we only speak up against wrongs which only affect us or those close to us, but won't speak out for the people who don't belong to the groups to which we belong. Thinking about this, I figured I had to say something, I said:

"I know that I don't usually comment on your stuff but this is offensive. If he was a jerk, call him a jerk. But the 'terrorist' and the 'go back to your country" stuff was uncalled for."

Minutes later she responded:

"That's the whole point, I was a little tipsy, I'd never say anything like this sober. That's the joke, dude."

Yet, this dude (me) didn't see the joke. So, I then responded with the following: 

"Being tipsy isn't a free pass to be offensive (or to make light of it the next day). If anything this is something you DON'T want to share because judging from some of the responses on this post, some people think this kind of stuff is ok ... If someone told me, 'Go back to Africa' (which is a lovely place, by the way lol) I'd be offended, whether that person was sober or not... I'm not judging/criticizing you personally, I'm just against what you said."

Mysteriously, as I posted that comment, her page disappeared and I saw this:

Most likely, this meant I'd been deleted, blocked, or both. But either way I was happy that I stood up for a just cause.

Most people believe in ignoring things like that, or just writing people off as being ignorant. Yet, how does that help to stop the behavior in question?

Some people might say, well "They're not talking about me." But when I hear that I often think of some wise words that one of my mentors, a sociologist by the name of Dr. Werner Lange once taught me. They were the words of a German minister named Martin Niemoller, who commented on the indifference of German intellectuals during the rise of the Nazis, he said:

"First they came for the communists,and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist.

Then they came for the socialists, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Jew.

Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak for me."

We all have a human responsibility to speak out against injustice and unfair treatment of other people, whether its on the basis of race, ethnicity, religion, class, sexual orientation, political beliefs, etc.

Writer, and Holocaust survivor Elie Weisel once said, "The opposite of love is not hate, it is indifference." When we turn a blind eye to injustice and become indifferent and apathetic to the struggles of those who are culturally different from us, we indirectly contribute to injustice.

It is OUR job be to agents for love and truth to truly stand up for the principles of "Liberty and justice for ALL", because authentic liberty and justice cannot exist without genuine love and truth.