The State of the Union
I sat down last night to write a letter to my niece who’s abroad and feeling homesick. What could I tell her? How could I write to her about home when home is not a place of comfort but of anger and despair?
The first time I left The Smokies last month was just after Orlando. An art purveyor mentioned it offhand, I asked what she was talking about and when she told me I excused myself to go outside and cry. The next time I left it was to find out that despite heroic efforts, no gun control laws had been passed in the wake of the massacre. Next it was the UK leaving the EU because of racist, anti-immigration hatred. And then this week happened. Again.
I’ve tried to write about violence and racism a dozen times in the last month but I haven’t been able to make the words big enough but today there’s someone who has so I’m going to share one of the many, heartbreaking facebook posts that I’ve read from a friend who’s never stopped being shaken to her core her whole life. I cannot know her grief. I do know that what she says needs to be heeded and will be heeded. Brett Robinson:
“Today is the second day that I have sat on my bed and cried. Am I an idiot? It seems like the evidence grows everyday that this country is not a safe place for my family. That is isnt a safe place for me. That no matter what on video, in public during the day, the black body remains a fear to others. And dont think that we arent hiding. WE ARE ALWAYS HIDING. We are always making ourselves smaller, cutting our hair so we can work in an office, not sharing our real thoughts for being thought of as angry, shruging off vaguely offensive statements, having a sense of humor and grace. Making a space feel safe for others, because we know people are afraid of us. Yet still we are shot like dogs in a street. Like DOGS. And it isnt enough for me anymore, the outrage. For some people reading this your outrage doesnt make you think of your brothers and go, I would take you away from this if I could. It doesn’t make you think of all the times the cops could have killed you. It doesnt make you flash back to all of the incidents, when my family was in the car with my grandma and a cop pulled us over because he thought he smelled weed in our car. Think about that, he pulled us over because he thought he smelled weed in our car. Or all the times someone has called me Nigger to my face or the many more times they have said it behind my back. And all the times I have taken the high road. All the time showing love to hate. And why? So that I can watch videos of cops killing unarmed black men in the street? So I can watch a black woman, who is no different than me calmly hold a camera as her boyfriend dies in front of her so that she has proof. So that she has some kind of evidence, because she wouldnt be believed if she didnt. And her child is in the car. Then having to listen to her pray that she isnt killed as well as the screen goes dark. This is why I am showing love and kindness? Am I an idiot? Am I so blind that despite all the evidence I still believe in this country, in my friends in my community. Because none of them can keep us safe. All of them have failed. So I dont want to feel outrage. I just want to mourn. I just want the sad realization for myself, that I, despite how smart, and kind and talented I am, that I know I am, my life is less valuable because of the color of my skin. That at anytime a cop could kill a member of my family, my brothers, who are so bright and special and strong and glorious. And that its all part of a news cycle. And that I want to believe that things will be better but right now I cant. So spare yourself the outrage this time. How many times can we be outraged before we realize that this is nothing new. If you want the world to change get angry and change it. Speak truth to power. March on the streets, vote in your local elections, dont be an ally on facebook only, talk to the black people you know and really really be there for them. Listen to them and hear their pain and their fear. And dont talk about yourself after, dont get offended by their anger, just listen.”
Also this: http://www.joincampaignzero.org/action.
And this: http://www.ravishly.com/2015/04/10/what-you-can-do-right-now-about-police-brutality
And this: http://time.com/4397086/minnesota-shooting-philando-castile-role-model-school/
