Yesterday a friend tagged me in a post that contained a call to action, amid the demonstrations that have erupted after George Floyd’s murder. It’s the #AmplifyMelanated Voices Challenge. And it’s important.
I’ll admit, I had to look up “BIPOC.” How about you? It means “black, indigenous, and people of color,” as Mahreen Ansari explains in this post.
I hadn’t heard of this challenge, but I’m taking it. So I’m muting myself in this post, except to say I’m posting a few links in this post and will add to them through this week, and perhaps beyond. Next week, we’ll talk some about all this.
So, here are some posts and reposts:
Staceyann Chin’s poem, “Burning Truths,” which begins with these words (but please click the link (the poem title) to listen to the whole six and a half minutes) (Yes, you have six and a half minutes.):
When armed white Americans entered Michigan’s capitol / to protest social distancing, /not one cop in riot gear was sent to keep order /among those fine Caucasians. / No curfew was imposed…./ People in power said nothing. /
It has been five nights of fury. / Angry birds making firewood of North America’s image of itself./ At 3:15 a.m. I cannot sleep a wink, / cannot think, / cannot hear myself blink….
(BTW, I was sleeping at 3:15 a.m. Were you?)
A wise person posted on Ms. Chin’s Facebook page to ask how they could support her work. She offered this link where you can give to support her work. You can also check out her books of poetry and memoir here.
Here’s a written piece, from an “Exhausted, Black, American Woman,” Dr. Sweetie Conway.
A black friend posted these words–not his, and by an unknown author–on his Facebook page:
Your black friend is trying to be ok.
Your Black friend in the past 30 days has watched a Black man get shot dead while jogging (Ahmaud Arbery), a Black woman get shot dead while sleeping (Breonna Taylor), and the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer. Your Black friend has also listened to the President of the United States use segregationist words as a veiled threat.
Your Black friend is trying to be ok.
Please don’t ask us about the looting.
Please don’t chastise us about the rioting.
Please don’t tell us that all lives matter.
Please don’t minimize our fear.
Please don’t bring up Black on Black crime.
Please don’t ask “What about Chicago?”
Please don’t say “if you’d just act like (A Wildly Successful Black Person… Usually Oprah, Obama, Colin Powell, Denzel or Will Smith)”. Please don’t judge us
Your Black friend is trying to be ok.
Listen to your Black friend.
Empathize with your Black friend.
Support your Black friend.
Pray for your Black friend.
Pray with your Black friend.
Just let your Black friend know you really care.
Your Black friend will remember who truly had their back during this difficult time. They will remember who was more concerned about a looted Target. They will remember you posting a thinly veiled and racially offensive meme. They will remember you calling looters “Savages”. They will remember your silence about their Black life and the Black Lives of others.
It’s real easy.
Do whatever you can to help your Black friend out because your Black friend is trying to be ok…..
(author unknown)
Here’s an essay written by the amazing and talented Dara Beevas, one of my favorite Minnesotans, about her experience of Minneapolis, published in the New York Daily News last week. And her interview with a Minneapolis TV station about that essay.
And a couple of photos from another friend’s posts:
Come back later in the week as I’ll be adding more links over the days to come. (Feel free to send me some.) May Staceyann Chin’s words, from that powerful poem, be proved true:
Even white people are beginning to tally the toll / of what racism exacts from all of us.
Staceyann Chin, “Burning Truths.”
LINKS ADDED AFTER ORIGINAL PUBLISHED DATE:
A powerful reflection by Wesley Morris of the New York Times, and a link to the Patti LaBelle song he references.
Some historical perspective from Patrice Gopo, describing some of the racial history in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Our former bishop, Julius Trimble, now leads the Indiana United Methodist Conference. He shared these words last week:
A message from Bishop Julius Trimble:
I suppose many people would expect bishops and pastors to write lengthy, well-crafted, and carefully worded statements that express lament and hope. Careful not to offend or disrespect any parties named or anonymous. If I were to pour out honesty and anger, it will serve little purpose other than to invite you to consider where each of us has ignored one pandemic while being attentive to another.
God is able to do anything but fail. The question for us: What are you willing to say and do to keep us from failing to create a Beloved Community where all lives are equally valued? It is up to you and me.
Be encouraged,
May 30, 2020 Indiana United Methodist Conference page on Facebook.
Bishop Trimble
And this image from a friend’s Facebook page:
A video from a pastor friend in Denver, Colorado about the misplaced term “racial reconciliation.”
A poem by Hutch Jones, posted on Facebook on June 3:
Memory Bank From Another Shade
If you forgot how America obtained this land we live on, colonizers stole it from the native Americans.
If you forgot how we gained our freedom as a people, it was through a rebellion that led to a revolution.
If you forgot where the systems in place came from, it was built by the white man.
If you forgot how black Americans got here, they were stolen from an African land.
If you forgot how this country was built,
it was on the backs of stolen & oppressed people.If you forgot, this nation lost more Americans on our own soil when fought to fight to keep people enslaved.
If you forgot, we wrote a Constitution that keeps a black man unequal to a white man.
If you forgot, whites burn down successful black communities in cities across America.
If you forgot, black people fought in world wars and foreign lands to defend our country’s freedom.
If you forgot, black people have been accused of false crimes and killed with zero regard for the truth.
If you forgot, MLK led a peaceful protest and whites attacked supporters and eventually assassinated MLK.
If you forgot, we continue to allow black people to be terrorized and killed by a militarized police force with deep rooted racism.
If you forgot, we see minimal legal actions taken against the officers committing these crimes.
If “if you forgot” is actually “I didn’t know”, then there is much work to do.
We all have a history and we all are responsible for writing it. You have to decide what side of history you want to be on.
We are talking about basic human rights. It is to treat others how we want to be treated; it is to stand up for one another; it is love over hate.
If you are disturbed by the actions, the intensity, the riots, the brutality, the false narratives, the gaslighting, the racism, the anger, the hate, remember we are only watching people act out what our history has taught us.
When we finally own up to the fact that we have not stepped up to uphold the same freedoms we are granted in this country and treat all people truly equally, then we can really begin to be a United States.
And if you forgot when America apologized for the treatment of blacks in America, that still hasn’t happened.
Do Work.
Be Better.
Love Wins.Hutch
#BLM
#2020Vision
#CancelColonization
#RacismIsAWhiteProblemToFix
Another article from the New York Times, arguing that the proper term is “anti-blackness” rather than “racism.”
An article entitled “Why People of Color Need Spaces without White People.” Includes these great words for white people to be ready to say: “I’m sorry. I didn’t see. I didn’t listen. I’m working to see and listen now.”
“‘Thug’ Is the New N-Word.” An important reflection on language.
A black clergy friend re-posted these words from a black friend of hers:
I’ve been reflecting on how often I’ve had to be the silent black girl so I’m not viewed as the angry black woman💚
Paris Van-Del, via LaTonya Calderon
This article: Dear White Friends, I See Right Through Your #BlackLivesMatter Posts. A friend says, “White friends who ‘have black friends’ this article is going to be hard. This article is going to hurt. This article is going to help us grow. This article is going to call us to repent.” He’s right. Read it anyway.
A comedy (?) bit from Saturday Night Live’s Michael Che. #Black Lives Matter. “It’s a low standard.”
A song, “Rose Petals,” from the group Common Hymnal. “I’m asking you to look at all these roses, these petals on the ground. They call this one Sandra Bland.” Wow.
An article about the racist roots of many common phrases.
A video outlining some basics about racism. Helpful.
A black clergy friend re-posted these words on her Facebook page this week:
I’ve been reflecting on how often I’ve had to be the silent black girl so I’m not viewed as the angry black woman💚
LaTonya Calderon, June 6
LaTonya also re-shared this video, “White Privilege Explained in Five Minutes.” Take a look.
This video is more raw, on the subject of the looting and rioting that’s happening, but do watch it if you can stand it. It’s important. She says we have to ask the question, “Why are people that broke?” Her Monopoly analogy is instructive, and it ought to wreck us.
Leave a Reply