JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – If you’re not part of the solution, then you are part of the problem. Those words, in reference to race relations in America, came from Jacksonville civil rights activist, author and Black history historian Rodney Hurst.
Hurst told News4JAX he always wanted to be part of the solution in fighting racism. At the age of 16 in 1960 he was photographed talking to reporters after a sit-in protesting segregation in Jacksonville.
The picture was taken after “Ax Handle Saturday” where Hurst and other African Americans were attacked by a violent mob downtown.
This Black History Month, Hurst takes issue with legislation Gov. DeSantis supported, that bans teaching about American history in a way that makes white people feel “uncomfortable.”
”This country was founded on racism, white American, Christian racism, the ability to control and influence and dictate to a group of people, a race of people, politically, financially, socially, civically, and that’s what has happened in this country," he said. “If white folk and their ancestors never did anything to make them feel guilty and uncomfortable, then they would not feel guilty and uncomfortable.”
Hurst said the struggle for dignity and respect is ongoing in the African American community and in his opinion, he said the words diversity, equity and inclusion have been wrongly demonized.
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“When have you ever heard those three words as regular as they are? You want to diversify. One of the things building businesses always say is, we need to diversify. You want to talk about equality. Everything that we talk about in this country, all of our founding documents, the Constitution talks about equality. All men are created equal. And certainly, you want to talk about inclusion,” he said.
Hurst is calling on Americans to have deeper, honest conversations about race relations, even if it makes them uncomfortable.
“One of the problems that we have is that white folk and Black folks still don’t communicate with each other. We still deal with culture clashes. The first thing, I’ve spoken to a number of groups, I’ve been blessed with that, and I’ve heard not one time, but several times, where white folks say, ‘Well, do you have to use the word racism? Racism is such a dirty or nasty sounding word.’ Yeah, I have to use racism because that’s what it is. It says racism implies control, and that’s where Black folk have been in this country since kidnapped from Africa,” Hurst said.
Hurst who is the author of four books, said he’s in the process of writing another one.
He calls today’s society the “integration generation” and encourages all races and nationalities to understand American history for themselves.