There's no lack of places in which to begin.
I am white. I am neither celebrating nor condemning it. I am more than ever examining what it means in a multi-racial world. I am and will forever be a student and learning is my oxygen.
The school of combating racism has always been in session for people of color. While I condemn racism as a matter of course, I see how I am a back seat passenger on this journey. Words and deeds have been separate while my everyday life remains largely unchallenged by racism. Even as I have participated in the women's march, and marches against gun violence, a march against racism and police brutality finds me at home. My mind says no to racism but my feet are passive. Until now.
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Malvern PA 6/14/20
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George Floyd's lynching, and all those before him, by a police officer sworn to protect and defend citizens and the rule of law may as well have happened in the 1800s. A white man uses his limitless power/privilege along with other white men to literally squeeze the life out of an unarmed black man, in front of witnesses in daylight, as Mr. Floyd and others on his behalf beg for reprieve for 8 minutes and 46 seconds.
Breonna Taylor.
Ahmaud Arbery.
Racism is a system, and the death of people of color at the hands of guns, police, and vigilantes, protected by laws that favor guns over common sense, has been an ugly American legacy.
When asked what I think about the subsequent riots, looting, protests, the calls for defunding of police, the worldwide outcry for justice and humanity regardless of color, - my reply is, "I don't know what it is to be living while black." It has been a truth since taking my first breath. And when I don't know something, seeking knowledge about it is required. Listening is required. I have been on the static perimeter.
Hearing some white people take cover behind the video of a charlatan's argument (I refuse to use her name) that offers the ultimate false "what aboutism" as she figuratively murders Mr. Floyd a second time because he had a criminal record shows how desperate we are to get permission to look away. "Mr. Floyd was a criminal so why are we (black people) making him a hero?" She seeks and receives attention for what activist/professor Dr. Brittney Cooper calls "cookies" from white people seeking a reason to use his record as a cancellation of his worth. Her form of opportunistic self-aggrandizement stinks like fish on the third day. Shame on her and those who shield themselves behind her phony argument.
Which brings me 180 degrees into the light to a most constructive event that occurred last week: Instagram's Share the Mic Now.
Dr. Cooper, @professor_crunk, and 45 other activists, professors, writers, community leaders, artists, and authors of color recently participated in this social media event. They took over the accounts of their white counterparts to share the work they have been creating and advocating for years in supporting communities of color, feminism, education, and in fighting racism. Via posts, Instagram stories and Instagram Live, many white audiences became the beneficiaries of this knowledge/opinions/research/activism.
School was most definitely in session.
Dr. Cooper, an associate professor of Women's and Gender Studies at Rutgers University, read from her current book, Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower, specifically from the chapter titled, "White Girl Tears" in which she calls out white women/feminists on our failure to influence other white women in the 2016 election. In her words, "White feminists did not come get their people. Who are the people of white feminists? Other white women." https://www.instagram.com/p/CBRMmTLh3ga/
This message was echoed in 2018 during the Brett Kavanaugh's Supreme Court confirmation hearings when she tweeted: "If white women tears can't compel white men to do better, nothing will."
Dr. Yaba Blay, @fiyawata, assistant professor, Africana Studies, Drexel University and author of (1)ne Drop: Shifting the Lens on Race, and creator of the web series Professional Black Girls spoke on racial identity and noted along with other event peers about some trepidation having a largely white audience for the day and acknowledged being tapped by some of her black friends/followers with concern over what she was opening herself up to. She tempered the concern with a knowing that any opportunity to share the message is an opportunity to be taken.
Tarana Burke, @taranajaneen, creator of the #metoo movement in 2006 with her work with empowering black women and girls who have experienced abuse/trauma doubled down on the access to a wider audience as necessary. She shared that having white women as accomplices in order for black women to have a conduit into the mainstream (which is another word for white world) is helpful and necessary because "our message needs to go to a broader audience." Ms. Burke added that the goal is have access without a white conduit. "My voice should count on its own. I shouldn't need a surrogate but you give me any mic, I've got something to say,!" she stated.
Miatta Johnson, @miattajohnson, President of the marketing firm MVD Inc., responded to being asked to comment on this moment this way: "People are understanding that its not just black people who are upset. People are understanding that its not just where we put a band aid on the problem; we have to actually peel back the layers of our own bias and do better. This time feels different." https://www.instagram.com/p/CBRdLnUB7Zp/
I have only skimmed the surface of women who participated in Share the Mic Now and continue to listen, read, and purchase books authored by these voices in my very small way of learning more and doing so much better.
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| Malvern PA 6/14/20 |
Another activist whom I've followed on Instagram since last summer is Rachel Cargle @rachel.cargle. Ms. Cargle is concise and unforgiving as she offers historic perspective and challenges her followers to go deep with topics that make us squirm. She numerically dissects comments on her Instagram posts to instruct readers on the importance of context and calls out specific double meanings. Her Instagram posts are a worthy education. She offers free coursework along with subscription based courses via the Patreon platform. She is a teacher but I see her more as an alarm clock repeatedly urging us to awaken! https://www.instagram.com/p/CBRrRpAnkmI/
Ms. Cargle's black history prompts steer the reader into areas of racism in American history that are regularly sidelined by white perspective/interpretation. She also curates, "The Great Unlearn" community where "whitewashed colonized understanding of the world" is addressed. She is also the founder and CEO of the Loveland Foundation which provides therapy support for women and girls of color. What started as a birthday wish fundraiser morphed quickly into a sustaining provider of services. https://thelovelandfoundation.org/ways-to-give/
As I type this post, Breonna Taylor's murderers - police officers who wrongfully stormed into her Louisville KY apartment on 3/13/20 and shot her 8 times - have yet to be arrested. She is someone's girlfriend, daughter, co-worker, - she is a young woman of color and her death must be reckoned with. How are those officers still not arrested? https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2020/06/11/us/ap-us-america-protests-kentucky.html
The planet is activated. Now what?
Author Roxane Gay's recent opinion piece in the NYTimes wearily reminds us: "Some white people act as if there are two sides to racism, as if racists are people we need to reason with. They fret over the destruction of property and want everyone to just get along...they offer no alternatives about what a people should do about a lifetime of rage, disempowerment and injustice." https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2020/06/11/us/ap-us-america-protests-kentucky.html
I'll close with Dr. Blay: "We need a boot camp for white people to learn about white supremacy because this is not about how you feel. This is not about being seen as nice...most folks have never been required to learn about race, let alone racism. Most woman have not been asked to look at the intersection of their gender and their race."
The great learning AND unlearning is here. Let's get to it and stay with it. Instead of being afraid of change blowing our way, let us only fear the already known catastrophe of not addressing it.
There is too much at stake.
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