BLACK LIVES MATTER

I am a White woman of privilege, not hugely wealthy, but I don’t have to worry about much, financially speaking. I don’t think I have personally had a bad experience with the police, per se. And I DO NOT know what it is to be a Black person in the United States. I cannot, from my position in this highly unequal and systemically racist society, say that I do.

That said, I know what my eyes see. I know that my heart reaches out to both my Black friends and all Black people. I cannot imagine the fear they feel of the police. I cannot imagine the years of racism and the constant messaging they receive from our society that they are lesser than. The years of anger, frustration, and stress are unimaginable to me.

Equally I cannot fathom White people who cannot get it through their heads that the America they experience is not the same one that Black people live in. Honestly, I am getting sick and tired white people as a whole… both by volition or just plain being obtuse. This includes my own brothers, ¾ of whom just don’t get it. One of them said that he doesn’t worry about law enforcement, nor should others, if they follow the law. Another brother of mine called Ferguson a “flapdoodle” when I tried to discuss it with him. Just too many white people are under the impression that if black people followed the commands of the police, they won’t get shot.

Classic white privilege talking. That concept often doesn’t work for Black people, if they are even given a chance to comply… and if they do comply, there is no guarantee that they won’t end up in a jail cell, or dead. Black parents have to have “the talk” with their kids on how to try NOT get killed by police, and that includes specific instructions on how to comply. 400+ years of that submission to merely survive isn’t healthy or sane…. but that is what we white people have created: a system that has driven our Black citizens to survival mode. And yet we expect them to keep putting up with things that we would never put up with. We ask our Black citizens to bear all of our shit and all their own, that has largely been created BY WHITES.

There have been so many lives lost through police violence. I know so many names, I wish I DIDN’T know them… because that would mean they were still alive, being loved and moving through life with their families and friends, and adding to the richness of the fabric of the United States. The list is too long. The point is that these were living, people who have been removed from their lives and the lives of those who knew and loved them.

-        Philando Castile: Worked in a cafeteria in Minneapolis, had a gun permit & told the police about it during a traffic stop. He was shot to death in front of his partner and child, after telling the officer he was reaching for the weapon.

-        Tamir Rice: 12 yo with a toy gun in park: the police car pulled up and shot him to death without warning. His sister was hysterical and was held, handcuffed, in the back of the police car.

-        John Crawford: young man was shopping in a Walmart, he had picked up a BB gun that he intended to purchase, police shot him without questions or warning

-        Michael Brown: 18 year old with his hands up and unarmed, shot in head, his body lay in the street for hours

-        George Floyd: Minneapolis: possibly used counterfeit $20 bill, suffocated by an officer who knew him

-        Breonna Taylor: Louisville: aspiring RN, dedicated EMT, shot in own bed while sleeping, no-knock warrant for person already in custody who lived 10 miles away.

However, the way that white people refuse to understand or listen to the ongoing trauma of the Black community, just shows how white privilege works. White people are shot by police & probably in greater raw numbers than Black people, but that is a function of us being a greater percentage of the population. When comparing percentages by race, Black people are much more likely to be shot by police. Additionally, white people are more often taken into custody peacefully, even if armed; one glaring example is the murderer of 9 Black parishioners at the Mother Emanuel AME church in Charleston… the police took him through drive through fast food before taking him to jail.

Then we come to discussing the police themselves: perhaps there are only a few “bad apples,” as we often hear, but the system protects them through qualified immunity and union contracts. And that “thin blue line” sure gets thick when their own are threatened with investigation of wrongdoing, or anything else. Good officers tend to keep their mouths shut, for fear of their jobs… or retaliation… or being forced out. The “bad apples” are spoiling the barrel. There will always be need for some police, but they don’t need leftover military equipment like MRAPs or AR-15s. Screening of potential police recruits needs to include psychological profiling and training needs to include de-escalation training. Misconduct needs to be met with real repercussions. Also pairing the police with community-based social services created with community input.

The racial divide in this country is as old as the country itself, but the breach can only be healed with deep, systemic change and a lot of soul searching & honest listening by the White population.

BLACK LIVES MATTER.