Attorney General Curtis Hill has written an op-ed about the blatant and subtle forms of racism that continue to beset America – and how to begin healing hearts filled with hate.
In a recent altercation in Arizona, a man named Paul Ng approached two Black men filming a video for a popular YouTube channel and told the men – on camera – that the area in which they were filming was a “no-n***** zone.†Ng was later arrested for disorderly conduct and fired from his job.
“The fact that Ng felt comfortable enough to identify himself as a racist and to use a racist slur while being filmed by a Black man is an astonishing indictment on the state of race relations in America,†Attorney General Hill writes in the op-ed.
Open dialogue, he writes, can help achieve racial reconciliation and eradicate racism. Attorney General Hill cited a recent forum he hosted about race and justice as an example of the kind of conversation that can begin to create change.
“Honest conversations like these, among key community stakeholders, is how we will ease these tensions,” Attorney General Hill writes. “I would like to see these structured conversations implemented throughout the country. We cannot achieve unity without understanding what divides us.”