Apathy: One of Humankind's Greatest Evils

It has been a week since our return from Louisiana and I find myself continually reflecting upon my experiences in Mossville and also in New Orleans.

I have always considered myself blessed, however, I never considered myself privileged. My consciousness was first awakened to the concept of me being a white privileged woman when I attended the Undoing Racism workshop in January. Before then, I had conceived of myself as a decent white woman who cared about humanity and tried to do my best to help those in need - me not being a racist was all that was required of me. I was so wrong.

Not that I was so blind or naive to think that racism no longer existed in America. I just did not comprehend how our governmental and social systems are set up in a way that continues to support the white privileged class. After spending a week in Mossville I believe I am finally beginning to understand what white privilege means and also what structural racism does to individuals and a community.

There is no excuse for our government to shamefully continue pretending that they don’t know whom the sources are of all the toxic substances that are accumulating in the bodies of the Mossville residents. Not when the great majority of residents experience illnesses such as asthma and other diseases with environmental triggers. Not when there are millions of pounds of these toxic substances being released into the air and groundwater both legally and accidentally on a regular basis. Not when the local police allow plant employees to play vigilante and intimidate concerned citizens (granted concerned citizens not from the area) and then assign police officers to “question” these individuals under the guise of homeland security. I continually wonder if we had been a group of all Black citizens, rather than mostly white, would we have so easily driven away from the encounter.

In the words of Helen Keller: “Science may have found a cure for most evils; but it has found no remedy for the worst of them all -- the apathy of human beings.” The residents of Mossville deserve much more than our caring thoughts they deserve for us to transform our apathy into action and passion - not only while we are in Louisiana but in every interaction we have where ever we may be.

~ Gloria