5/31/2020 What we need to hear
What a painful week in our country. Grieving families and communities, police violence, loss of life, confrontations, anger, sorrow; anguished cries for justice, for assistance, for inclusion ring out across our land.
As a white person of privilege, my perspective is limited; I acknowledge these limits even as I work consciously to overcome them.
I promised, back in January, to focus these messages leading up to our November election on what we have in common. To resist the invitations offered daily, hourly, to divide ourselves from one another, and by dividing, to allow oligarchy to deepen its hold. We see the tentacles of oligarchy already reaching into this painful moment, seeking to turn us against one another, to blame without evidence and for political convenience, and to avoid the critical question: how do we move beyond the anti-Black, white supremacist history that is infused into our institutions, including our police?
In 1966, Martin Luther King Jr. said: "A riot is the language of the unheard." What are we refusing to hear?
The impact on Black and Latinx/Hispanic communities of the COVID 19 pandemic?
The profound impact on Black people of historical, structural racism in our policing and criminal justice system?
The reality of systemic poverty that disproportionately impacts Black Americans and other communities of color?
The continued rise of white supremacist, white nationalist ideologies in our national political stage?
Especially for white Americans, this is a time when we are called to listen. We can recoil from violence and destruction of property, but we cannot turn away from the systemic violence and injustice that sparks the large, mostly peaceful protests across our country. Or rather, if we do turn away, we guarantee the recurrence of the circumstances which triggered them.
If we find ourselves saying, "violence and looting destroy the message of the protests, and don't accomplish anything," we need to gut-check ourselves. Do we also, with equal fervor, insist that police violence targeted at Black people doesn't accomplish anything, and must be stopped? Do we also, with equal fervor, insist that systemic poverty, mass incarceration, family separations at our border, and other forms of systemic violence must be stopped? We must work against all forms of violence, including the (all too often invisible) social, economic, and physical violence by the powerful against those with less power.
In moments of profound grief and sorrow, we seek certainty. We have lost too many of our friends, family members, neighbors, and loved ones to the pandemic, and to racism, and to the intersection of these devastating occurrences. Too many face economic loss and eviction. Retreating into misplaced certainty of who the "good guys" and "bad guys" are will not help. Asking for "strong leaders" to "restore order" opens the door to loss of democracy.
The strong leadership we crave is within ourselves. It takes courage to refuse to turn away from the expressions of pain, loss, and anger. True strength is inclusive, compassionate, and does not choose false sides. Now is the time for us to find the courage to listen, and unite.
As Johnny Cash said, "We are in this together, if we are in it at all." Let us respond to this anguished call to listen; let us grieve together, link arms, and act for liberty and justice for all.
Sent with love and gratitude for being in this together with you, fellow peace and justice lovers.
Liz
Here's the interview with Dr. King from 1966: https://youtu.be/_K0BWXjJv5s