America must see that riots do not develop out of thin air, certain conditions continue to exist in our society which must be condemned as vigorously as we condemn riots. In its final analysis, the riot is the language of the unheard....As long as America postpones justice we stand in the position of having these recurrences of violence and riots over and over again. Social Justice and Progress are the absolute guarantors of riot prevention. — Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Racism is a sickness, sourced in a survivalist consciousness that is fixated on protecting itself from imagined threats. It scans the field for differences, and marks those differences as dangerous. At some point, these fears concretize into self-perpetuating hate. Once it crosses that line, it becomes very difficult to heal it. It's in their bones, after all.

One of the great ironies is that those who perpetuate racism often identify those they hate as sub-human. But it is the hatred itself that is sub-human. The tendency to mark that which is different as necessarily dangerous is fundamental to an entrapped, barbaric consciousness. The racist embodies precisely what he fears. And she ensures her own hateful demise.

The next step for humankind is an inclusive, authentic consciousness. One that does not hate that which is different, but, instead, invites it close. One that is not fixated on protecting its market share, but on creating a world where everyone is welcome to participate. One that honors our shared humanity, and recognizes that we are here, together, for a reason. None of this is an accident. We need each other's wisdom to forge the holy weave that will serve us. We need every single human on-board before we can get this earth ship flying right. If even 1 of us is left out, we fly off course. We have been flying off course for a very long time. We rise in unison, or not at all. - Jeff Brown