Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1194291
29 T hroughout the world, extreme racism, national- ism, anti-Semitism and other ethnic and religious biases are sustained by an antiquated notion that the human family can be ranked by physical characteristics and ascribed traits. This hierarchy of human value that fuels racist behavior like the El Paso shootings and hate rhetoric like the "Go Back" chants targeting four minority congresswomen is the foun- dation for those seeking political gains in a divided society. The ill-conceived belief that skin color determines whether someone is inferior or superior has hardened barri- ers among populations, leaving racist, xenophobic and anti-immigrant behav- ior ingrained in America and other nations. In the U.S., it perpetuated the enslavement of Blacks, genocide among Indigenous people and the embrace of institutionalized racism for centuries. IT MUST STOP. But uprooting the false belief in the hierarchy of human value won't come easy. This antiquated way of life is a fossil formed during the 14th century and crystallized in the 18th century by Carl Linnaeus, a Swedish botanist, known as the father of taxonomy. Linnaeus first codified the scientific frame of human hierarchy and listed human "races" based on physical appearances and on continents of ori- gin. He placed people like himself – Europeans – at the top of this hierar- chy, and he put other so-called "races" in descending order of humanness – with Africans at the bottom of his hier- archical system. Unlike other fossils, the belief in a hierarchy of human value still lives deeply in hearts and minds today. This idea must end and take its place in museums like other relics. The idea of a predetermined hierarchy must die now, before it kills us all! What's the answer? Healing thought leaders have plot- ted a new course against the hierarchy of human value, one that can transform our nation and serve as a blueprint for other lands facing legacies of racism and discrimination. The RxRacial Healing National Mobilization Camp- aign is activating a critical mass of peo- ple committed to working together and healing the wounds of the past as we seek to end racism and the inequities it has created. By defining racism as stemming from an entrenched belief system, RxRacial Healing provides a platform for launch- ing a new model of relatedness that is grounded in the knowledge of our inter- connected and equal worth as human beings. With this foundational idea in place, we can shape new ways of living, policing and gov- erning, as well as distributing resources more equitably because a critical mass of people will be enlightened – at their collective common interests. In order to move forward against racism, our nation must adopt this inno- vative, even revolutionary approach: heal the wounds of our past and learn to work together with civility and indeed, with love. We must build the individual and collective capacity to see ourselves in the face of the other. Buckminster Fuller, a 20th century inventor and visionary, once said: "You never change things by fighting the existing model. You must create a new model that makes the existing model obsolete." That is our path forward! RxRacial Healing includes five organizations – Association of Ameri- can Colleges and Universities, Ameri- can Public Health Association, Comm- unity Action Partnership, Natio-nal Collaborative for Health Equity and Ntianu Center for Healing and Nature – that reach communities at the grass- roots level. While their work has already begun, the organizations seek to expand their partnerships and resources to invigorate efforts to facili- tate racial healing, improve equity in communities and eradicate racism. RxRacial Healing must begin by changing our beliefs and state of aware- ness, consciously and unconsciously, especially the awareness and appreciation about the human family, our origin and our sense of belonging and inter- relatedness. The intercon- nected human family must overcome the persistent belief in the embedded hier- archy that currently molds our societal infrastructure and systems of democracy. ENDING : RXRACIAL HEALING IS THE POWERFUL ANTIDOTE FOR BIGOTRY DR. GAIL C. CHRISTOPHER B M & T ••• September/October 2019 ••• www.blackmeetingsandtourism.com