The events of this past week are weighing heavily on my heart. What an unjust world we live in where a white police officer can murder a black man, and feel justified doing it, live on video while we all watch in horror. This has to stop! This police brutality. George Floyd and the family he left behind are etched permanently into our hearts. This fear that African Americans live under every day of their lives. This racism that is prevalent in our society that allows this type of inexcusable behavior to continue. Jane Elliott captures it best in this short clip:
After watching this video, I was intrigued by this brave woman speaking about the truth of racism to an all white audience. I was inspired by her no-nonsense attitude and how she is just not going to stand for it any more. We need all white people to have this attitude. We all need to educate ourselves and stand in solidarity with the oppressed people in our society.
I did a little research on Jane Elliott and came to discover that she was greatly distressed by Martin Luther King, Jr.'s assassination. She taught 3rd graders in Iowa at that time. She decided to teach her third graders what discrimination looked and felt liked. It turned into what is now a famous experiment called, "Blue eyes, brown eyes." Here is the article explaining the history and results of this experiment.
Since the Black Lives Matter movement started 6 years ago, I have been a huge supporter. I never understood what people didn't like about that phrase; why it caused such backlash among white communities. And then I read a passage in Brene Brown's book, Braving the Wilderness, where she gives voice to why this phrase is so important:
If we care about citizens and the police, shouldn't the rallying cry just be ALL Lives Matter? No. Because the humanity wasn't stripped from all lives the way it was stripped from the lives of black citizens. In order for slavery to work, in order for us to buy, sell, beat, and trade people like animals, Americans had to completely dehumanize slaves. And whether we directly participated in that or were simply a member of a culture that at one time normalized that behavior, it shaped us. We can't undo that level of dehumanizing in one or two generations. I believe Black Lives Matter is a movement to rehumanize black citizens. All lives matter, but not all lives need to be pulled back into moral inclusion. Not all people were subjected to the psychological process of demonizing and being made less than human so we could justify the inhumane practice of slavery.
Why would I write about this on a blog that is supposedly about the stories of being a mother? Because as a mother, I am heartbroken over how we are treating each other. It is up to us as mothers to teach our children how to live with kindness, compassion, respect, and love in this world; to honor the dignity of all human beings - not just those in our own tribe. It was mothers who taught their children that slavery was reprehensible and those children grew up to live that truth. Now we have to teach our children that racism is reprehensible and pray our children grow up to fix this horrible divide in our country.
My heart breaks for every black mother that has to have a conversation with their precious 5 year old about racism and how they should act in case they get pulled over by the police. It breaks for every black mother that lost a son or daughter at the hands of police brutality. It breaks for the daily burden they carry, the micro-aggressions they live under day in and day out. It breaks because it doesn't have to be this way. Racism is a lie. It is a made up construct used to put people in different boxes. We are all humans. We all live, love, learn, cry, dream, eat, suffer, breathe, die. Skin color doesn't change that.
White privilege is real. Until we acknowledge that and our part in it, this great divide will continue in our country. This deep hurt has remained because white people don't speak out against it. If we were the ones suffering from it instead of benefiting from it, you can guarantee we'd be up in arms. Humanity is intricately interconnected. What happens to one of us, affects all of us. I will be working towards the good, peace, and betterment of this shared humanity for the rest of my days. I can't not do it.
