I am not an icon. I am the continuation and product of generations of Black planting and tilling in an unimaginable and never ending climate of White supremacy, state sanctioned terrorism and psychological warfare.
If we forget this, we raise up grand and egocentric individuals who imagine that they created a people rather than being the handiwork of a people who worked hard to carve out of the sackcloth of systemic oppression a life giving space where individuals could strive to reach their higher selves.
This is the context that must shape our telling and understanding of Movement history. It must be understood as the story of a people who worked and dreamed together to create spiritual and cultural resources that enabled us not to become what White supremacists intended. Right in the glare of systemic soppression, they fertilized and built a movement where they and their children worked toward a common vision even when they differed on the path.
Matthew Cooke is a white documentary producer who has created a number of well regarded films, Deliver Us From Evil (about child sexual abuse in the Catholic church) among them. This week he released a short film he calls “Race Baiting 101” which is a compelling look at US history, and an argument for why white people need to band together with people of color against racism.
In 1938 Langston Hughes wrote a poem about lynchings. This month it was set to a new set of images by Frank Chi and Terrence Green, showing how pertinent it remains. Please share it.
Stacey Patton has written a lyrical, eloquent, clear piece that is particularly useful for white people who can’t understand why Black women would be angry this summer. Honestly, as a white woman myself, I have a hard time understanding why white people would think it wrong to be angry in the midst of what is going on. But if you need a piece to help someone “hear” more deeply, this is it.
Many white people find themselves confronted by the #BlackLivesMatter movement, and respond by saying “all lives matter,” thoroughly missing the point. It can be hard to help them see what’s wrong with their sentiment, but here’s a quick and helpful explanation to which to point them.
Many people in dismantling racism contexts do some kind of “privilege walk exercise” as a way to help participants see the diversity of experiences people bring into this work, as well as the systemic nature of racial oppression. Here’s a video which has been widely shared recently, talking about one such exercise. This link includes the list of questions used.
It often is the case that white people have little or no grasp of the history of enslavement in the US. Here’s a powerful essay by a woman who once led tours at a slavery museum, with the set of questions she was often asked.
Here’s another useful set of statistics pointing to the ways in which racism is built into our systems, and reinforces biases in ways of which people are not even conscious.
There has been a lot of really thoughtful reflection emerging these past few days. I’m starting a list here, please add to it as you come upon pieces worth sharing:
