EXCERPT:
THOMAS-GREENFIELD: “So, I told the UN some personal stories. I told them how my great grandmother Mary Thomas, born in 1865, was the child of a slave, just three generations back from me. I grew up in the segregated South. I was bused to a segregated school. On weekends, the Klan burned crosses on lawns in our neighborhood. I shared these stories and others to acknowledge, on the international stage, that I have personally experienced one of America’s greatest imperfections. I have seen for myself how the original sin of slavery weaved white supremacy into our founding documents and principles. But I also shared these stories to offer up an insight, a simple truth I’ve learned over the years: Racism is not the problem of the person who experiences it. Those of us who experience racism cannot, and should not, internalize it, despite the impact it can have on our everyday lives. Racism is the problem of the racist. And it is the problem of the society that produces the racist. And in today’s world, that's every society.”