This article originally appeared on the blog of Heretic, the magazine of We Are Libertarians.
You can’t be neutral on a moving train.
Howard Zinn
In matters of oppression and evil, there is no such thing as “neutrality”. That there could be is a lie pushed by conservatives and moderates (who are effectively nothing but conservatives themselves).
As many before me have pointed out, racism is a vast evil that is plaguing America. It is an oppressive force that marginalized, exploits, crippled, and kills individuals and communities of color every day.
And you have to take a side. You can either be anti-racist or you can be racist (either directly our through complicity). Neutrality is a lie.
As the great historian Howard Zinn said, “You can’t be neutral on a moving train.” He was right. We’re on a train and there are people and systems driving it somewhere bad. You can shovel more coal in the firebox. You can jump off. You can try to stop it. Or you can just sit in your chair and wait for the train to arrive where it’s going – you can be neutral.
Except you can’t be neutral. The train is moving whether you like it or not, and you’re on it with the rest of us. You’re either resistant or complicit, but never neutral.
Stop settling for the lie if neutrality. Stop settling for merely not “being racist”. commit to anti-racism today. And commit to it every day from here on forward.
