What I Don't Know: Racism
I’m sorry. I don’t know what to do but I’m learning.
It’s scary to admit that I have no idea what to do to change the system. And it’s scary to say it out loud, here. But after spending days watching the videoed violent murder of George Floyd, I need to start this conversation.
I ordered the book, Me and White Supremacy, because it’s my job to get educated. I can speak up, make calls, and do all the things, but if I don’t really take a look at how my white privilege is part of the problem, then I’m not doing my part.
Last year, I went to a yoga class in Charleston that was called Racism and Social Justice. It was put on by the Champagne Society of Charleston, and co-led by Kennae Miller and Kate Counts. The discussion opened my eyes to things I hadn’t before thought of. If you aren’t a brown or black person, can you imagine what it would be like to be followed by the police for no reason, or questioned in a store for standing in one spot a bit too long? Can you imagine never knowing if even the most basic act like jogging could get you killed? Or being the mother to a man who could be killed for no reason?
20+ years ago, Montel Williams was talking about being a wealthy black man in America who had his own show. During the conversation, he said that he always has his cell phone ready to call for help, when he gets pulled over, because a he's black man. What’s changed?
Reading books by Gabrielle Bernstein won’t make you a more spiritual being, but doing the work of seeing what you are allowing or ignoring might. We can talk about love and light all we want, but if we don’t talk about the ways in which we blindly continue to support a system of oppression and abuse, we are part of the problem.
I didn’t read The Green Book, but I’ve been told that it’s a book that makes white people feel better about the past (and the now) by smoothing over the years of pain, suffering and death that occurred at the hands of white people. Put down the books that make you feel better and pick up the books that hold you accountable and responsible. And then begin the discussion. Begin it with the words “I’m sorry.”