They are asking why racism and sexism even exist. And they are expressing grave uncertainty about their future.

They are also demonstrating how to fix it.

One of my sons wanted to talk about all of this. To offer perspective I told him about 1968 and the assassination of Martin Luther King, then Robert Kennedy. About riots and Vietnam. We didnt know how long that war would last, and I told him how I wondered if Id have a future past 18.

It wasnt to say the current situation is canceled out by past struggles, but rather to suggest that the future will be determined by his equal fortitude.

As adults were not doing our jobs. Weve defiled their environment and codes of civility. We mock justice, and weve allowed the scourge of racism to expand into power. We cannot simply brush this mess into their dustpan and hope for the best; it is incumbent upon us to own our part.

Recently I got into a Facebook argument with some (mostly) young people who were correcting my interpretation of a meme. My intention was different from what they perceived, and I was called some horrible things. My impulse was to defend myself and I fired back, calling them virtue-signalers, sanctimonious and mewling antagonists.

And I was wrong. Not because self-defense was wrong, but because I counter-attacked. All I did was alienate young people who are trying to make that necessary difference. Defensiveness is within the arsenal of human behavior, but it belies experience and wisdom.

See the article here:
COLUMN: Securing the future is our job - Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier