My White Privilege

All the Things I Can Do

I have privilege as a white person because I can do all of these things without thinking twice:

I can go birding (#ChristianCooper)
I can go jogging (#AmaudArbery)
I can take out my wallet (#AmadouDiallo)
I can run (#WalterScott)
I can breathe (#EricGarner)
I can leave a party to get to safety (#JordanEdwards)
I can play loud music (#JordanDavis)
I can sell CDs (#AltonSterling)
I can walk from the corner store (#MikeBrown)

The list has another 20+ things I can do without thinking because of my white privilege. The whole list is here. You may have seen it already – it’s making the rounds on Facebook.

The last item on the list? I can be arrested without the fear of being murdered (#GeorgeFloyd) White privilege is real.

The words at end of the list? Take a minute to consider a Black person’s experience today.

Teju Cole on the Black Experience Today

Teju Cole, author, journalist, and photographer, said this in a Facebook post this week:

“These are things we’ve seen before. But somehow, this time, there’s a shift of tone. Folks sounded so tired, distressed, sad. . . I don’t know if non-black folks know how hard these past couple of days have hit.”

The blog Brittle Paper had a piece on Teju Cole and the death of George Floyd.

Teju Cole’s Essay on The Disposability of Black Lives is Essential Reading for Our Current Moment

Protests? We Should Not Be Surprised

Although I’m unhappy about the protests happening in the last couple of days, likely to continue tonight, I cannot condemn them! After 400 yeas of being used, brutalized, denied rights, and feeling powerless, it’s no wonder that our black citizens turn to the streets in anger and frustration.

On top of seeing black people killed by the police is the way the virus is affecting people of color at double the rate it affects whites. And then there is the attempt to blame black people for their greater mortality rate, ignoring the systemic racism that impacts every aspect of black lives.

This New York Times article says it better than I can! Please tell me your reaction.

Are You “Woke”?

I joined the lunchtime virtual gathering with Margalie Belizaire, the Intern Minister at my Unitarian Church today. She’s held these weekly sessions since the lockdown began as a way to keep us connected when we can’t be together. (She will be ordained tomorrow Saturday in a virtual ceremony.)

Today the murder of George Floyd and all the related issues of race in the US were our major topic of conversation. Several of us on the call including Margalie, the only black woman, have spent a lot of time thinking about racism in the US.

One woman said that she has a lot of black and brown students in the college classes she teaches. “I don’t see color,” she said.

I had to respond. “To not recognize the race of a person of color seems like you’re denying a critical part of their individuality. Race forms an important part of who we are, especially for black people.”

After lots of other comments, another woman said, “I hope we can be gentle with people like me, who are less ‘woke.’ We should recognize that we come from different experiences.”

I was glad she spoke up. If we ever hope to make progress on race in our country, we have to talk about our feelings, our actions, our fears and our hopes. We have to admit to each other what we don’t know, and be willing to learn. And if we are able, to teach.

So I hope to have a chance to offer a summer service this year, ideally with my black friend Judy, to move the conversation along in our congregation!

Your suggestions are welcome. How do we get people to talk about this fraught topic?

International Book Contest and Blog Subscribers

I sent my book Breaking Kola: An Inside View of African Customs to the International Book Awards 2020 contest for books published in the last two years. I entered in the category of multicultural non-fiction. I’ll keep you posted!

Have you read Breaking Kola? Have you posted a review on Amazon? I’d love to know more people are reading it, and have more reviews, which helps to sell more books! So please tell your friends.

If you have a book group that wants to read it, and you’d like me to join you for a virtual meeting to discuss, I can do that.

And if you have friends who might like to read this blog, would you let them know about it? You could forward this blog post or another you’ve liked. If you let me know, I can follow up.

Thank you!