White People, What Can We Do?

So, here we are again. America, are we ever going to get this right? I have to admit I've wondered if our country can or will ever recover from the sin of racism: a sin so evil, so brutal, so ugly, and so etched into the fiber of our society since before its inception that, for some, it is all but invisible.  However, in the many, many posts I've read over the last several weeks, I do believe I'm beginning to see a glimmer of hope, a subtle shift in sensibilities. For the very first time I'm seeing the question from white people, "What can we do?"

It's an important question, not for the anticipated content of its response alone, but for the sense of surrender it signals. Okay, I get it, the questions implies. Racism is real. Black lives matter can no longer be dismissed or ignored. Black lives matter--there, I said it. Okay? Now, what can I do?

There are many things we can do--maybe you've seen the lists floating around cyberspace. They usually begin with listening, something that I, personally, am not always good at, but yes, first and foremost we need to listen to the perspectives of people of color. We need to grow past the immature, egocentric thinking that says, what I do or do not experience is what everyone else does or does not experience. So, of course, we need to listen and learn from the experiences of others. But there's something else we need to do.

We also need to talk -- TO EACH OTHER -- about race. We should not expect people of color to bear the burden of our education. It is painful and not their responsibility. Racism is a white problem at its core. White people started it and white people need to end it. One way we can do that is to educate ourselves and each other about how the policies and practices born from our racist history continue to marginalize and disenfranchise people of color today. The good news is that education has never been easier or more convenient: TED Talks, movies, blogs, articles, books, etc. are only a click away.

So white people, let's talk.

White People, Don't Miss the Point

Social media burns with the streets
Over the image of George Floyd
Choking under the knee of oppression.
Sadness, fury, disgust,
Tears, empathy, prayers,
A thesaurus of emotion
Washes through social media like a flood-bloated river
Bloated with concern.

But white people,
We need to be careful.
Be careful not to miss the point.
From the depths of the swollen waters
A message floats to the top: not all cops are bad.
People compelled to point out
Remember, not all cops are bad.
It's a very important point--
Bears repeating and so we repeat it:
Remember, not all cops are bad.

Yes, true, good point.
Of course, not all cops are bad.
Police, our first responders
Enter danger like I enter the grocery store
Run toward while we run away
Immersed in crisis every day--
A child shot
A burning house
A drunken brawl
A food distribution
A car wreck
A Covid struck community.
It's a hard, hard job,
And we appreciate their service.
Of course, not all cops are bad.

But white people, don't miss the point.
Don't let the point be overshadowed
By the tent of defensive posturing
By a point that is not the point
By a point that helps us miss the point.
Who's good, who's bad, how many
What percent
White people, that's not the point.

The casual knee that stopped the breath
The pleas, heartbreakingly polite
Please. He said please.
He'd been taught well
By the mother he called at the end.

That knee wasn't just a knee.
That knee was attached to a culture
A system
Just another day on the job
Ho-hum.
That knee was attached to a failure of leadership
That knee was attached to a tolerance of abuse
That knee was attached to a fear of brown bodies.
If George Floyd had been a dog
The Humane Society would have been called.

White people, don't miss the point.
We don't need to defend the good cops
This isn't about them.
This isn't about how many good cops
How many bad cops.
This is about how many times.
How many times before a cultural shift
Roots out oppressive knees
Before they put on the uniform
Before they hit the streets
How many brown bodies have to die?
White people, don't miss the point.