Racism in Beaufort County: Admit it, and understand that it is systemic | Opinion

My family and I attended Sunday’s peaceful protest in Bluffton. It was a powerful, important event, and we were thankful to be a part of it.

I was asked to share the speech that I gave ...

Hello. I’m Galen Miller, president of the Hilton Head MLK Jr. Celebration Planning Committee.

Our committee is most widely known for the events we sponsor during Black History Month, including the parade on the island.

But I’m here today to do the uncomfortable work of confronting and dismantling racism. There’s a lot of work to be done.

Like so many of you, I’m heartbroken over the murders of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and so many others.

I grew up on Hilton Head Island, and I love this community, but I’m also saddened by the number of times I hear that racism is a thing of the past.

The first step in addressing a problem is to admit that it exists, and if we keep turning a blind eye to racism, we have no shot at creating the world that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. envisioned — a world that we should all want to live in.

To the Bluffton and Hilton Head community at-large, I say that we must ALL work together — not just people of color — to dismantle racism.

Start by listening to the people who are suffering. Talk with them. Use empathy and compassion and love.

Most importantly, stop denying their experience.

Stop turning a blind eye to the oppressive comments, jokes, opinions, actions and systems that assume people of color are less valuable.

▪ Look around at the disproportionate effect of this coronavirus and the unequal access to health care.

▪ Look around at what’s going on in our nation’s schools and the unequal opportunities that children have.

▪ Look around at housing in this area.

▪ Simply look around and see the children right here in this very community, including my own children, who are traumatized by what’s going on.

When black people are less valued, what we see next is a man being hunted in the street while jogging.

We see a woman gunned down in her apartment — shot eight times due to a botched no-knock warrant.

And we see a man crying out for his mother and pleading for his life while being pinned down on the pavement until his lungs could no longer get the air we all deserve to breathe.

To deny that racism exists is to NOT UNDERSTAND what racism is.

Silence is NOT the answer.

In fact, silence upholds racism.

We should all be outraged and vocal, and that includes the good law enforcement officers who are out there doing the right thing day in and day out while some among you are doing wrong.

In a famous paraphrase from a Dr. King speech: Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.

So, we peacefully gather here today to take a stand against the brutality of racism on behalf of George Floyd and ALL people of color.

YOUR LIVES MATTER.

Period.

This story was originally published June 1, 2020 at 11:14 AM.