The lack of emotional intelligence within our society is a serious and subtle problem that is a threat in society. If it continues to go unaddressed, it will cause more disconnect and division.
When talking to Black voters, third-party candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. recently made a statement that racism cannot be changed because it is a part of human nature. He stated that we are hard wired to look for differences. “the liberal energy to deal with racism, systemic racism in this country has been directed at trying to make people so they’re not racist anymore. We [use] education through sanctions, through cancellation, whatever, and all of these things are important. But I would say that we’re never going to eliminate racism. We are hardwired from the 20,000 generations that humanity spent wandering the African savanna, little tribal groups. We’re hardwired to look for differences in other people and to essentially act as racism.” When explaining how to deal with human nature, RFK, Jr. stated that we should teach Black kids how to be resilient by giving them a better education, better business role models, and opportunities within their neighborhoods.
His response came from a place of ignorance and an attitude of superiority and privilege. Rather than promoting educating people on how not to be racist, his solution was to instead educate the victims of racism on how to live with it and get over it. By focusing on teaching Black kids how to live with racism and how to overcome it, he is minimizing the voices of Black people by telling them how they should deal with it.
His way of trying to connect with the lived experience of racism was to compare it to the hate speech that he experienced by being Irish Catholic, when his uncle, JFK, was elected as the first Catholic president of the United States. He commented that he knew he was not the one with the problem and he just got over it, able to overcome the hate speech that he faced because of his education and other opportunities afforded him through his family.. However, what he failed to do was empathize with the lived experience of Black people, maybe there are similarities by sharing his own experience, he made it about himself without acknowledging the distinct ways in which Black people have continually lived with racism, for generations; he did expect all Black people to do the same as him. He failed to understand a community with a different perspective from his, and in doing so silenced a whole community.
Racism does not just affect uneducated people of color. Racism is systemic, it is dehumanizing, subjugating and often viewed as a thing of the past or a misconception by those who have not experienced it. Black people cannot get away from racism in this society. It hides in attitudes or is blatantly bold. There are limited interpretations of who many of us are and how we see the world. A big part of racism comes from ignorance and when some people are confronted about their stereotypical views, they choose denial, maybe they gaslight you, or get defensive rather than face the fact that their views are harmful to others even if they cannot see or understand the harm.
If we prioritized emotional intelligence from a young age, and utilized it in situations regarding bias, ignorance, and stereotypes, not to mention historical trauma, we could have a less prejudiced community and could possibly live in a more objective society. This could enable us to sympathize and empathize with those around us even if we have not lived through their experiences, making us more connected and understanding of one another.