Inequality is a zero-day flaw in America’s source code

Twenty years ago, when I first came to this country, from Nigeria for grad school (Fight On Trojans!), I recoiled in horror when I saw how America, an ostensibly resource rich country, treated its poor. I was even more astounded when I saw how it treated black people. It made me cringe. I’d led a first-class existence in Nigeria (everyone is black) and I felt bewilderingly thrust into a second-class existence; demoted because of the color of my skin. For a couple of years, as a defensive reflex, I naively tried to separate my identity from the target of that ire by the dominant group. But I failed because I’m indistinguishable at a distance. And so, I did a 180” and studied and learned and finally identified with the group that I was lumped in with anyway, since it was literally out of my control. I learned the horrible history of slavery — connecting it to my own African history of the slave trade and colonization; I learned the struggle in the new land, the painfully long emancipation into human-hood and the long search for equality. Fast forward to today and I’m an American citizen and live with the duality of being African AND African American. I have suffered countless acts of racism and prejudice that I’ve shrugged off mostly — I never let people deter from my personal drive and mission. But still, being black in America can feel like low grade PTSD. ALL. THE. TIME. Always feeling like you are a hairs breath away from a mistake that could cost you your career or your life, no matter the extent of your achievement. And if not you, someone you know and love. It’s holding your breath and hoping you can learn the rules that makes it Ok for you to be where you are. It is constant tension.

Watching Christian Cooper’s self-recorded video of Amy Cooper, and then George Floyd’s gruesome murder in Minneapolis, was a one-two gut punch (right after the tragic deaths of Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor). You could hear the bones on the back of the camel break. Years of trauma came to a head last week, because most black people were confronted with the limits of their personal excellence and hard work. Overpowered by an insidious hydra-headed societal value system that asserted evil dominance over our humanity. And we seem to live in a society that tolerates this status quo because some people can ignore it and live their daily lives unperturbed and unbothered, knowing full well they have unearned privilege above others.

We all need to be part of the solution. It’s impossible to have black people fix this alone — that kind of lone advocacy is destined to fail. We don’t ask women to solve the gender inequity in the workplace, it’s a collective responsibility. In the same way, racial inequality hurts us all, and those who think it’s a zero-sum game are seriously short sighted. It’s an open sore that prevents all of us from maximizing our potential. We have to be ACTIVE in fighting it. Standing by is not an option, neither is being ‘blind’ to it. The ideals of this country only work when we can be equal in every way. Inequality is a zero-day flaw in America’s source code, and it will forever be exploited until we solve it.