Screaming into the wind
BLACK LIVES MATTER
We say this because the US was founded on the principle that they didn't, and that principle is still at the bedrock of every institution today.
BLACK LIVES MATTER
George Floyd. Breonna Taylor. Tony McDade. Ahmaud Arbery. And all the countless others, these only being the latest.
BLACK LIVES MATTER
I've been thinking a lot about the phrase "screaming into the wind" lately.
And not just the phrase, but the fact that this is how it feels so much of the time, for me, and for so many of the people that I work with in our client organizations or that I know as friends or colleagues, especially people of color, especially women of color, especially Black folks.
I know that often people describe it as screaming into the void. To me, that suggests that you could at least hear yourself.
Screaming into the wind means that you can't even hear yourself.
BLACK LIVES MATTER
I often think about how white supremacy* is like breaking someone's legs and then yelling at them for being angry and penalizing them for not being able to walk.
*White supremacy: not Nazis or other white supremacist extremist groups but the mainstream system in our country that privileges those who have been deemed to be white over those who have not.
Desiree Lynn Adaway posted a quote that helped explain what I mean:
"Never in history has violence been initiated by the oppressed. Violence is initiated by those who oppress, who exploit, who fail to recognize others and persons—not by those who are oppressed, exploited, and unrecognized."
Paulo Friere, Pedagogy of the Oppressed
Daana Townsend posted this, which also helped:
"ESQUIRE: How would you define somebody who smashes in the window of a television store and takes what he wants?
BALDWIN: Before I get to that, how would you define somebody who puts a cat where he is and takes all the money out of the ghetto where he makes it? Who is looting whom? Grabbing off the TV set? He doesn’t really want the TV set. He’s saying screw you. It’s just judgment, by the way, on the value of the TV set. He doesn’t want it. He wants to let you know he’s there. The question I’m trying to raise is a very serious question. The mass media-television and all the major news agencies-endlessly use that word “looter”. On television you always see black hands reaching in, you know. And so the American public concludes that these savages are trying to steal everything from us, and no one has seriously tried to get where the trouble is. After all, you’re accusing a captive population who has been robbed of everything of looting. I think it’s obscene."
James Baldwin in "How to Cool It" interview in Esquire, 1968
BLACK LIVES MATTER
From what I can tell from on the ground footage in my neighborhood (helicopters have been circling overhead for hours as I write this) as well as reports from across the country, most of the violence is being instigated by NYPD or white supremacist infiltrators, but I also understand if there is violence from actual protestors.
White settlers were the original looters in this country anyway, enacting violence that has been systematized with brutal efficiency into every aspect of our society, ongoing to this day.
THAT is the violence we need to be talking about. THAT is the violence that needs to be stopped.
It's oppression that is "divisive", not the calling out of it.
BLACK LIVES MATTER
So what do we do, just give up and say it's hopeless? (Someone asked me this today.)
I have not for a long time expected or counted on significant change in my lifetime or even in my children's lifetime (and they are still in elementary school), although I hope I am wrong.
And that doesn't mean I'm giving up.
I don't think there is any one solution - I think we have to work it on all fronts, whether it's protests, community dialogue, organizing and advocacy on the ground, policy changes, electoral politics and activism, interpersonal conversations, organizational changes etc.
I believe that there are many ways to have an impact and I encourage people to find the ways that best match their interests, passions, values, talents, and community needs.
I, for example, have found that I am much better at creating an impact from the outside as a consultant rather than from inside as an organizer or activist. We don't all have to be all things.
For folks with privilege, I believe that understanding the history sheds light on the present and provides the way forward - we cannot dismantle what we cannot see or name.
There have been tons of resources shared online these past few days (and weeks and months and years) but if you are just getting started, here are the ones I like to recommend:
Scene on Radio’s Seeing White podcast - 14 episodes in total, with each episode generally falling between 30-50 minutes long, this podcast provides a powerful and critical understanding of exactly how the concept of race has been constructed and embedded into every aspect of our culture and systems here in the US. This understanding is the foundation upon which meaningful conversations about race that lead to action and change can be built. Transcripts are also available for those who prefer to read rather than listen.
How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi (estimated reading time for the entire book: 6 hours and 26 minutes). Kendi’s book, speaking from his perspective as a Black man, talks about how there is no such thing as a nonracist or race-neutral policy. To combat racism, it is not enough to passively abstain from overtly racist behaviors, attitudes or actions, one needs to be actively antiracist. Moreover, there are opportunities for people, regardless of their own racial background, to take up the practice of antiracism. The book is also available on Kindle and in audio.
White Fragility: Why It’s so Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo (estimated reading time for the entire book: 3.5 hours). DiAngelo speaks from her perspective as a white woman about “white fragility,” a term coined to describe the not necessarily ill-intentioned but counterproductive reactions that White people often have when talking about race, and how White people can engage more constructively instead. While the target of audience for this book is likely NOT people of color, some people of color appreciate having these everyday challenges acknowledged and validated. The book is also available on Kindle and in audio.
Natives: Race and Class in the Ruins of Empire by Akala. Great for the UK side of things - same root, same principles, different history and manifestation, similar results. The book is also available in audio, read by the author, which I highly recommend.
Even if you don't read any of the above, I highly recommend taking a look at the Characteristics of White Supremacy Culture by Tema Okun and Kenneth Jones. If you read them, you'll probably recognize them as characteristics of mainstream corporate culture and mostly not explicitly about race, which speaks to just how invisible it can be.
For my personal reflections on confronting the truth about white supremacy, sign up for 30 Days of Courage, a series of 30 daily emails followed by weekly reflections.
Banner photo by Matt Hardy on Unsplash. Also published on LinkedIn.