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Perspective: Justice Requires More Than An Apology

Koshu Kunii
/
Unsplash

As a white male in his 60s, I have many things I may need to apologize for. All my discarded plastic or all my contribution to climate change.

And then, there is my white privilege, which came with my birth. Yes, I was born a poor white male; however, I have earned more in my lifetime than many of my male African American peers, most who have worked much harder than me.

I am sorry for the system. Although I did not create it, I have silently benefitted from it.

And my apology for it will not right all the wrongs, not even just my wrongs.

True justice requires more of us than an apology.

We will continually learn about the dark shadows of our history. A history we cannot alter with an apology, but we can begin to dismantle and reassemble the system which created that history.

My little apology will not change wrongs of my past, nor the wrongs of my race against other races, or the wrongs of my privileged life.

To change a long standing 400 year old system of injustice will take time; however, we must fully face it, acknowledge the reality of all which has come before, and together change so that going forward we are not creating more wrongs that will need to be forgiven and apologized for by future generations.

I’m Dan Kenney and this has been my perspective.

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