Virginia L.

Mills Red Rants On 6/29/2020

Living in a Crystal Palace

I am White America. And I have been living in a Crystal Palace. Before you stop reading, just know that I am the epitome
of White Suburban America, comfortably insulated inside my Crystal Bubble. I have experienced some of the things I am
going to write about today. Additionally, I have had close friends who have lived a lot more of these situations than I
have and who have shared their lives with me through our deep friendships. I have also educated myself on the rest as
much as possible to fill in any gaps in my knowledge and I am continuing to read, listen, and to learn all the time. So,
bear with me please…

ORIGIN OF THE PLAGUE

This insidious plague seeps slowly into our minds and hearts through the way we are brought up as children. This is NOT
a Nature vs. Nurture argument… this is purely Nurture… Societal biases stem from racism and racism stems from hate
and hate is rooted in the idea the there is an “US” and a “THEM”… AND that the “US” is superior to the “THEM.” This
thought process is learned and the behaviors that come from it are also taught by the parents, who learned it from their
parents… Society of old begat these ideals to the generations that came after them. Society must now grow and mature
to overcome these obstacles together if we are to change.

THE ILLUSION OF PROGRESS

Here is where the Crystal Palace of ‘Forward Progress’ has been built up for generations and insulated in this beautiful
Crystal Bubble called ‘NMP – Not My Problem’… We, as the White Majority have worked very hard to insulate ourselves
since the 1920’s through policies and programs designed to help us build our Crystal Palace like the 1935 Wagner Act
which allowed for White Blue Collar Unions to form and gain much need benefits so that they could move into working
middle class America more easily. And move they did, using the 1934 newly formed Federal Housing Administration
created under F.D.R.’s New Deal which allowed for more mortgage loans to be obtained at an easier rate for the average
working ‘person.’ It was also supposed to standardized housing construction standards to make things safer for the
home buyer as well as help make new neighborhoods follow quality codes before you could get a loan to keep both the
buyer and the bank safe on their investment. However, due to continued racism in our society these “policies and
procedures” were used instead to delineate all Black neighborhoods as High Risk and therefore not Loan Worthy… They
drew these lines in Red ink on the maps and this practice is known as “Redlining” today… And it has still been known to
happen. This practice of course also set the stage to exclude the Black man from qualifying for a loan and owning a
home because the banks would not put a Black family in a ‘Whites Only Neighborhood’- as almost ALL of suburbia was
unofficially known as. Between 1934 and 1962, the federal government backed $120 billion of home loans. More than
98% went to whites.

Now let us move onto Social Security Act of 1935. It provided a safety net for millions of workers, guaranteeing them an
income after retirement. But the act specifically excluded two occupations: agricultural workers and domestic servants,
most of whom were Black, Hispanic, and Asian. They could not save for their retirement or pass wealth onto the next
generation; (an important aspect of truly being able to progress over generations!) So if they couldn’t be a part of a
union and get healthcare or better wages and they couldn’t earn social security in most of the other fields they most
often occupied, then how were they to be able to amass enough to live on AND save for the future AND save to pass on
some wealth to the next generation??? Hmmmmm….

Unfortunately, the problem goes back even further than this… Many Freed Blacks were denied the ability to own land
during the 1862 Homestead Act. “That Act gave away millions of acres – for free – of what had been Indian Territory
west of the Mississippi. Ultimately, 270 million acres, or 10% of the total land area of the United States, was converted
to private hands, overwhelmingly white, under Homestead Act provisions. You see, earlier in the 1790 Naturalization Act
only “free white persons” could become naturalized citizens, thus opening the doors to European immigrants but not
others. Only citizens could vote, serve on juries, hold office, and in some cases, even hold
property.” [https://www.pbs.org/race/000_About/002_04-background-03-02.htm?
fbclid=IwAR0TFL0wz3KopVXk7ljC2me52VNjTz53fDA6lFYGU4XIZNfCahqRDIJJYZA]
Virginia L. Mills Red Rants On 6/29/2020
The Racism from our past was rampant throughout the early 19oo’s and in many cases is still going strong, it has just
learned to be more passive-aggressive and underground in how it functions… but it is obviously still there… And we see
it every day… we have just gotten used to looking past it…

As we moved out of WWII, the was the G.I. Bill… “The Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944, commonly known as the
G.I. Bill, was a law that provided a range of benefits for returning World War II veterans (commonly referred to as G.I.s).
The original G.I. Bill expired in 1956, but the term “G.I. Bill” is still used to refer to programs created to assist U.S.
military veterans.” [https://www.history.com/news/gi-bill-black-wwii-veterans-benefits] These Black Servicemen
couldn’t buy homes in “White Suburban Neighborhoods” even though they now technically qualified for the loans
through the G.I. Bill because of the passive-aggressive unwritten laws of White society which still kept everything boiled
down to “US and “THEM”.

WHAT LIES BENEATH

And the Further South you go in our country, the more remnants of the old Jim Crow Laws/Codes you can see in how
people think and act. Things like, “I respect Black people I work with if they work hard.” As if none of you have ever
goofed of a day in your lives at work! Or, “Sure, I respect ‘them’, but I don’t date ‘them.'” Ummmmm, we bleed the
same? It seems to be ok for White missionaries to come back with spouses of other races and ethnic groups, but that is
different, right? {Harrumph} Or my personal favorite, “I think some of ‘them’ are fine hard-working people. But I do not
want ‘them’ living in my neighborhood…. ‘They’ will bring down my property value!” Are you kidding me? You value
what the county thinks of your house in relation to your neighbor’s skin color more than your neighbor’s intrinsic value
as a human being?????? (By the way… that is a form of Redlining.)

THE STRUGGLE WITHIN

I could go on and on… How many of you have heard these types of statements from your family members? -A favorite
Aunt or Uncle? -From a Grandparent? -From Elders in your churches or even your pastor? -From your bosses? -Friends?
-Coworkers? -Or just from people around you at random? How do you respond to these statements? Or here is the
bigger question… Do you respond at all? Or do you let it slide on by? And if you do let it slide, do you smile and nod as if
to agree or do you visibly bow out of the conversation?

Reflect on this last paragraph with the intention of answering those last few questions with integrity and honesty. I know
it is hard to be honest with yourself sometimes but dig deep. Look back over this blog and realize that if you are White,
you came from a past with possibilities that did not exist for Black people. Even though you have had to work hard all
your life for what you have achieved, please understand that you started from a position in that “race” far ahead of the
average Black American.

GRANDPA’S YELLOW BRICKED ROAD

If you think you did not, let us look at a few things. Did your parent’s own a house or rent? Own? There’s One step
ahead. If you came from rural America, did your parent’s and or family own land? Yes, your family members each have
houses in one general area and maybe some land to spare? – That is Two steps ahead. Were any of your family member
in the past able to take advantage of any of the governmental programs I mentioned above? FHA Loan? GI Bill? Social
Security and Blue-Collar Unions in the 1930’s-1960’s? (Blacks were excluded in the unions and in most jobs that drew
SS.) What about their segregated schools which had better funding and better teaching and better educational support
from up until the 1970’s and some would say they still don’t have adequate funding? (and educational support in those
low-income neighborhoods!) So that is quite a few more steps ahead, isn’t it? What, a bare minimum of at least 3-5
major steps ahead? Reflect on that, will you?

BUSTING THE BUBBLE

Now, let us bust the Crystal Bubble that has insulated us from being able to see that we have had it so much better that
Black Americans for the last 150+ years! Let us wake up from our hazy sleep of self-induced blindness and help to
become part of the solution. Let us follow the example of Christ when he taught us the Parable of The Lost Sheep in Luke
Virginia L. Mills Red Rants On 6/29/2020
15! He leaves the 99 to rescue the 1 lost sheep! It is time for us to stop complaining as the “99 sheep” and go help Christ
rescue the “1 lost sheep”!!! Also remember this!

ACTS 10:34 NEW INTERNATIONAL READER’S VERSION (NIRV)

34 
Then Peter began to speak. “I now realize how true it is that God treats everyone the same,” he said.

COLOSSIANS 3:11 NEW INTERNATIONAL READER’S VERSION (NIRV)

11 
Here there is no Gentile or Jew. There is no difference between those who are circumcised and those who are not.
There is no rude outsider, or even a Scythian. There is no slave or free person. But Christ is everything. And he is in
everything.

ROMANS 3:23 NEW INTERNATIONAL READER’S VERSION (NIRV)

23 
Everyone has sinned. No one measures up to God’s glory.

As we can see, We are ALL THE SAME in God’s eyes and are ALL treated the SAME! And Jesus sums it all up in Matthew
22:36-40… EVERYTHING we need to KNOW and DO is right here!!!!!!!

MATTHEW 22:36-40 NEW INTERNATIONAL READER’S VERSION (NIRV)

36 
“Teacher,” he asked, “which is the most important commandment in the Law?”
37 
Jesus replied, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. Love him with all your mind.’
(Deuteronomy 6:5)  38  This is the first and most important commandment.  39  And the second is like it. ‘Love your neighbor
as you love yourself.’ (Leviticus 19:18)  40  Everything that is written in the Law and the Prophets is based on these two
commandments.”

So, I leave you here. How are we to best love our neighbor? Abolish Racism and all it is remnants. Examine your own
personal biases and take a good look at your personal gains throughout your family history so that you can realistically
understand that no matter how poor you and your family may have started out, you still had much more the just a “leg
up” on most of the Black Americans in this country over the last 100-150 years.

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