Fighting Prejudice: Education as Prevention and Treatment

A brief metaphor inspired by recent events…

Prejudice is a societal disease. It is a terrible disease that devalues and destroys lives, and causes people to live in fear.

There is no vaccine, and seemingly no cure. Thankfully, there are preventions and treatments. Those can be found in education.

There have been pandemics of prejudice in the history of our nation, and our world. As for our nation, we must safeguard, as we have with COVID-19, against the possible transmission of this awful cultural blight.

The evil demonstrated by authorities in the George Floyd case calls important attention to fact that the disease is in us. That should not be a surprise. The broken nature of humanity calls us to our baser and lesser selves.

We all may have different opinions as to how we treat this societal cancer, but hopefully would agree that early detection is essential.

Like the current pandemic, there are those who will take advantage of misery. Scammers take money from grandma. Looters take televisions from Target. Also, as in the pandemic, the dead include those on all sides of the fight.

Prejudice transcends racism. This disease does not see in black and white, but in every shade, creative brush stroke, and texture God uses in His palette to imbue us with that which makes us unique, and uniquely divine.

We do not think and act as one. That of all things should be obvious. We are each of us unique. That should not mean we are divided.

I am proud of the way we have attacked COVID-19. While far from perfect; bereft of a common high ground, and bedeviled instead with political machinations, unwholesome motivations, clumsy forecasting, and broad overreaches, we have nonetheless provided an example for this and future generations of how a country can act as a collective of unique state entities.

May we attack prejudice with the same dedication, vigor, and resolve.

– Mike Westby