White violence
Adam Toledo, 13
Travon Chadwell, 18
Anthony Alvarez, 22
Iremamber Kykap, 16
Daunte Wright, 20
All Black and brown boys killed by police in the last two weeks or so.
In fact, according to the NY Times, since testimony in Derek Chauvin's trial began on March 29, more than three people a day have died at the hands of law enforcement.
This is America, getting "back to normal." This is America, working exactly as designed.
I think we need to be talking not just about white privilege, white fragility, white supremacy or even police brutality but about white violence. It’s embedded in the history, the culture and all of our systems that impact our every day reality.
The system is not going to go quietly into the good night. The system is not going to suddenly say, no THIS killing is one too many. The system is designed to perpetuate itself and all those that are part of the system can't help but be complicit.
And that includes all of us, to varying degrees.
We have to say that Black lives matter because we are presented with irrefutable evidence, every single day, that they don't.
If you're not Black, that doesn't have to bother you, but I believe that it should. Until Black lives matter, none of our lives do, not to our systems and our culture.
We need new systems, specifically and intentionally designed to value Black lives. I have come to believe that the smaller the system, the better the chances there are of innovation, iteration, and actual, transformative, co-created inclusion - not an extension of the status quo to include more people, but a SHIFT in the status quo to include more people.
That's the sweet spot for me anyway.
And this is what I recommend for anyone looking to drive long term change.
Don't get stuck in the horror and shock of it all. White violence should always be horrifying, but shouldn't at this point be shocking. If it is, learn more about its history. Look around and train yourself to see it (because we have all been, to varying degrees, deeply socialized not to).
And then focus on values and needs - how can you best embody your values to meet self-identified needs at a community level? And at what scale of system can you make the most impact?
A culture that systematically dehumanizes is untenable.
Some links:
Dawnland - a documentary about the devastating impact of child separation practices on families in Maliseet, Micmac, Passamaquoddy and Penobscot tribal communities
'Falcon and the Winter Soldier' Explores a Tragic Truth About America - "It’s a story we’ve seen time and time again in our own reality, the deaths of Malcom X, Martin Luther King Jr., Fred Hampton, Breonna Taylor and George Floyd serving as pulpits for white voices and leaders who fail to enact real change yet still sell the idea of truth, freedom and justice under the notion of American supremacy."
Banner photo by Henry & Co. on Unsplash.
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