We need to see others as human beings, not causes

I try to see everything racial in a vacuum. That may sound simplistic, but it's considerate, as every situation involves different people raised under different circumstances and philosophies.

Recent shootings of armed and unarmed black men in the United States of America understandably have Americans upset, angry and agitated, but protesting violently is counterproductive. Violence begets violence and it isn't going to help others listen.

When I was in prison I facilitated Alternatives to Violence seminars. My classes consisted of a mix of new inmates, old inmates, black inmates, white inmates, white supremacists, Islamists, Christians, Odinists, Moors, racists of every color and cultural diversity, and, believe it or not, in classes of convicted killers, rapists and criminals of every breed, I offered answers and skill sets that would start out difficult to practice and eventually bring people together.

I've seen racists go from enemies to brothers. If not brothers, friends. If not friends, associates, and I've learned to appreciate the progress. What we taught was violence is crossing boundaries and imposing yourself on others. Violence begets violence. Crossing boundaries begets crossing boundaries. Imposing on others begets imposing on others begets imposing on others begets imposing on others.

What we're seeing in the political and social arena today isn't progress. It's crossing boundaries. It's imposing. It's manipulation. Politicians and their surrogates are pulling heartstrings in an effort to influence an election.

Black men killed racially and unjustly aren't seen as men by many of their advocates, media outlets or political party representatives, but causes. Perhaps if we stopped making each other causes, headlines, talking points and projects, we'd see each other as human beings and enable each other to show these men more respect. I know, I've been used by people to bolster their causes. For months after my release I felt like a project, a cause, a pawn. I intimately know what it feels like to be used. I know what it feels like to be devalued because of the color of my skin.

Few know the first person identified in the homicide I was once falsely convicted of was a light-skinned black man. Then a car load of Mexicans was accused. By the same man. Then they arrested me. Identified by the same man. The man many now suspect as the killer.

Few know the NAACP once offered to help my mother defend her teenage son, until they discovered her son was white. Blacks and their surrogates have told me I haven't a right to speak on their issues because I'm white and couldn't possibly understand racism. Forgetting it's racist to say they shouldn't protest because they're black, they say I shouldn't speak because I'm white. Haven't I experienced racism? Crippling racism. Haven't I a right to speak? Whether I'm black or white? Yes. Isn't that the point? Judging skin is how we got in this mess. It isn't going to get us out of it.

I truly love others and want to see this end. I'd like to do something to help see racism brought to an end, but not at the expense of one race to help another or to bolster a political agenda, because that isn't bringing racism to an end. It's perpetuating it. I've heard some say they want to have a conversation, but is that true? Conversations are two sided, often consisting of opposing views. I agree, we should have a productive conversation, but before that can happen we have to agree to listen to each other, respect opposing views, set skin color aside, set politics aside, set hashtags aside, forgive the past, give ground when necessary and share ground when possible and advantageous.

Josh Kezer was wrongly convicted for the 1992 murder of Angela Mischelle Lawless in Scott County, Missouri. Judge Richard G. Callahan, now the 47th United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri, declared his "actual innocence" in 2009. For more information on his case, go to semissourian.com/coverage/lawless.