Many of you have reached
out to me and have invited conversation about current events. I know people struggle with knowing what to
say, but wanna say something. I appreciate you acknowledging that we have a
problem and some of you have even said that you wanna do better and do the work
within yourselves and take action and have asked “What can I do”. I'm glad you are willing to be uncomfortable. I know we aren’t sure exactly how to go about it. Acknowledging that your skin color has
provided you the privilege not to experience structural racism (sometimes referred
to as systemic racism) is the first step. Learning exactly what structural racism is and the endless examples is another.
I understand that there are many other people of color and cultures who have experienced “-isms” in the world,
but today I’m talking about the continued traumas Black people have faced here
in America. Watching Ahmaud Aubrey be shot to death jogging, was traumatic,
watching the video of 12 year old Tamar Rice be shot to death because he was
playing with his toy gun in the park was traumatic, and the list goes on. We, as a nation, watched George Floyds neck
be kneeled on by an officer for 10 minutes until he took his last breath.
What
you watched is very representative of Black experience at the hands of
structural racism. What are we as a nation doing to take the knee of systemic
racism out of the neck of Black America?This knee comes in the form of hiring practices, housing discrimination, predatory lending practices, inequities in health care, and media representations, and everyday microaggressions and sometimes blatant attacks on your dignity.
"Now you may say, well we have laws to prevent this (overt racism) from happening" but America has had a long history on how to circumvent the laws to continue to perpetuate a racist system. Minimizing,
disregarding or downplaying the experiences of Black people by saying things to
your black friends like “but yeah, all lives matter” or “ Yes, but the Irish
were slaves to (so get over it)” or “I’m colorblind” and “why is it always about race” or “look,
reverse racism has happened to me too” is not helpful it’s dismissive and it
shuts down any meaningful conversation that will bring about change.
I have had so
many experiences that have made me feel, excluded, unattractive, stupid,
fetishized, ashamed, and just not belonging. I’ve had the police called on me
when I was standing my ground with assertion yet was only seen an angry
aggressive black woman. I’ve experienced people who I had considered friends to
be dismissive when I’ve shared my experiences, but I’ve also had beautiful
productive conversations about race with my closest friends who aren’t black. I would like for these kinds of conversations to continue to empower allies and encourage those who have the power to do something, come up with ways to mobilize for change.
No comments:
Post a Comment