In the 20 years before Einstein died, he almost never accepted invitations to speak at universities.
In 1946 he broke his self-imposed rule to give an address – and accept an honorary degree – from a small, traditionally African American, university in Pennsylvania.
There he declared:
“The separation of the races is not a disease of coloured people*, but a disease of white people. I do not intend to be quiet about it.”
Now on one hand, the fact I hadn’t heard him say this before means that maybe he left it too late to not be quiet about it … but that aside, that is advice we should all be adhering to.
As I wrote about a while ago, I used to think it was enough to simply not think that way.
It’s not.
We have to act.
We have to stand up.
We have to make sure the actions and behaviours of those who wish to define and undermine others are met with resistance.
Words are – sadly – not enough.
Sure. they’re a start, but we need more than that.
People from other heritages and backgrounds have consistently shown their support for rights and freedoms we enjoy every day – and yet we think it’s enough to just ‘say’ we support them back.
It’s not.
It’s embarrassing we think it would be.
But if anyone needs more reasons to help make the change that should have happened and needs to happen, then how about the fact we would all end up benefiting if this happens.
Of course that shouldn’t be the reason we do it, but as I wrote about giving equal opportunities for female leadership, the benefit of letting hundreds of millions of smart people, with different experiences and ways of looking at the World means they can see ways to push us forward in ways we may never have considered.
And I say ‘all’ because unlike [many] white males, they’re generous with their ambitions and aspirations so actively bring others on the journey with them rather than leave them behind.
We have a lot to benefit from fighting for equality.
But we have to fight.
As Einstein worked out years ago.
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* The term ‘coloured people’ is obviously wrong, but in 1946, I imagine that was the acknowledged universal term … which shows how little we have progressed in that time.