My " Hippie Sandals"... tie dye and sparkly. Perfect protest shoes--- comfy, durable and LOUD!
For the first time in 18 months, I will be at a protest march/rally in Pensacola on Saturday. I had to keep Brian safe from COVID last summer, so I regrettably stayed home from the two week Black Lives Matter Vigil held here in town. But with both Brian and I vaccinated, wearing masks, not touching or breathing on anyone else, and using and sanitizer-- I feel safe to be " out there' making some holy trouble.
During my forced absence from protest and other holy troublemaking activities, I've had time to reflect on why I engage in such work.
Currently I am reading Pastor Elle Dowd's { ELCA Lutheran} book Baptized In Tear Gas: From White Moderate To Abolitionist. I'm learning that much of my growing up in a nearly all-White rural Appalachian community blinded me to what racism is and how much privilege I have just by the color of my skin. In my high school , there was one Black boy in our class. He was a football player, so of course he was tolerated But racism lived just under the surface at those rural high schools
My brother, on the other hand, attended a more urban-ish high school with more Black students. He befriended a Black boy in middle school , and asked if " K" could come home with him for the weekend. I remember the boys minding their own business playing basketball outside . A car drove down the street and an ADULT White male yelled racial slurs at both my brother & his friend. For me, this was my introduction to Life As a Black American.
I remember feeling anger and sadness on behalf of my brother's friend, but I did not realize that, just by being White-- I felt safe in Rural Appalachia. " Polite " people did not talk about racism, sexism or hetero-normative-only relationships when I was growing up. To be frank, there has been more open and honest discussion about White Privilege & the history of how police have dealt with minority Americans { including LGBTQ+ people} here in Pensacola than I ever remember hearing while growing up.
Even throughout high school and both WLU and UWF, I remained a relatively ignorant White Moderate. I knew that some people were raised to hate anyone Not Like Us & had been on the receiving end of some of that in the form of anti-Semitism { Ashkenazi Jew from Ukraine on Mom's side of the family}but I certainly did not hang around such people.
In her book, Elle talks about the Ferguson uprising after the police murder of an unarmed Black man named Michael Brown and how she, as a White Moderate tried to figure out her role in supporting civil rights for our Black and Brown siblings.
One quote in Chapter Two struck me hard > Elle writes" The Black people in Ferguson and the Black people all over the world do not get days off from being Black. " { Dowd page 34}
White supporters such as myself need to take our cues from our Black kin. Black Americans have been fighting systemic racism that we White people cannot imagine since they were small children.
When canvassing for a political candidate back in 2018-- I listened to stories of my Black neighbors who have not voted in years-- citing that none of the politicians really want to dismantle the societal systems that continually oppress Black families. Furthermore , there are and have been laws on the books here in Florida that specifically aim to keep Black people from the polls.
This is why I am committed to safely showing up with and for our neighbors-of-color tomorrow . Besides standing in solidarity, I shall be there to listen and learn.
Elle said something else in Chapter Two of her book that struck a chord with my heart. She writes: I was a well-read White girl who cared about doing what was right, But the Black activists in the streets not only had good hearts and plenty of ' book knowledge '; they also ad grown up getting' the talk' around how to act around police. " {Dowd page 34}
My brother and I NEVER had to worry about what to say and how to act around cops. It did not occur to me that this is not the case for many Americans, including POC and all people in same-sex relationships, and transgender people. In June I watched a Netflix miniseries called PRIDE , a well-done { and eye-opening} documentary series on the struggles for equality for LGBTQ+ Americans.
My dear White kin, we need to have these conversations. Furthermore ,we need to look at ourselves in the mirror and realize that we can never live in Black skin. We can only do our best to listen , learn and follow THEIR lead.
Amen.
In Love and Liberation for All....
~Sarah McCarren
Pensacola FL
27 August 2021
No comments:
Post a Comment