A national reckoning on race relations has also been started following the deaths of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and George Floyd, among others.
“The divisiveness that this country is in right now, I have to reflect back to the ’60s when I was a little kid, and it’s as bad, if not worse right now,” Smith said. “So we have to act. We have to vote. We have to treat people better. We have to love one another. We have to root for one another. But in this climate that we’re in right now, it’s just so depressing and disappointing. You add Covid on top of it, and I’m not surprised that there are folks that are in a bad place.
Smith has been appalled by the deaths of Arbery, Taylor and Floyd.
“Having a 26-year-old son, it really hits home every time he walks out of the door,” he said. “What bothers me the most – it doesn’t matter how much education you have, how wealthy you are. Racism is real. It impacts each and every one of us, whether you’re white or black, to be quite honest with you.
“It has really set me back on how I view a lot of things in life and just gave me a different perspective on how I want to approach life. Obviously, I’ve tried to treat people the way I would want to be treated. Greet them with a smile, be engaging, be someone that’s approachable. Don’t judge a man by the color of his skin, but the content of his character. These are things that resonate within me and I always walk around with a smile and so forth, but there hasn’t been very much to smile about here as of late. It’s been an eye-opening experience and I think we all need to be engaged – people of all races – because this is something that, if we all band together, we can make a difference in the outcome and the future of the United States and our communities.”
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