It’s been almost two weeks since George Floyd was murdered by a Minneapolis police officer while three other officers looked on. Almost two weeks since the streets of this country have erupted in protests shouting “Black Lives Matter. No Justice, No Peace. Hands up. Don’t Shoot.” For 401 years, this country has not honored its own Constitution. We have not lived up to the promise that all people are created equal. Where all of us are guaranteed life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
Racism, inequity and discrimination are baked into every one of our systems.
We cannot look away. Not any more.
Like many of you I have been sick to my stomach thinking about the violent death of George Floyd. Of Breonna Taylor. Of Aumaud Aubrey. Of so many of our brothers and sisters of color in this country. Our brothers and sisters. For too long we have ignored what is right in front of us, the disparities in this country because of inequality. Of race. Of wealth. Of gender and sexual orientation. The playing field has never been fair.
It’s time we look in the mirror. It’s time we start acknowledging what is true. What has always been true. My existence is vastly different than that of my friends, students and colleagues of color. If you are a white person, yours is too. If you don’t believe me, it’s time to wake up. Educate yourself.
Bryan Stevenson says “The opposite of poverty is not wealth. The opposite of poverty is justice.” It’s time we open our eyes to the lack of justice, of fairness that exist all around us. The injustices that have been there since this country was founded on the genocide of our Native American brothers and sisters.
As Ibram X. Kendi writes, “What’s the problem with being “not racist”? It is a claim that signifies neutrality: “I am not a racist, but neither am I aggressively against racism.” But there is no neutrality in the racism struggle. The opposite of “racist” isn’t “not racist.” It is “antiracist.” We cannot be neutral.
It’s time to get off the side lines. It’s time we live up to the promises written in the Constitution. To paraphrase the words of Reverend Al Sharpton, it’s time we take our collective knee off the necks of our brothers and sisters of color.
Rachel Cargle wrote, “Anti-racism work is not self-improvement work for white people. It doesn’t end when white people feel better about what they’ve done. It ends when Black people are staying alive and they have their liberation.”
Do not look away. Our brothers and sisters are suffering. We cannot stop until all people are free. Black Lives Matter.
No justice. No peace.
image from here.
