A Pregnant Moment in Time
by Barbara Velazquez, Co-Chair, SOMA Action Racial Justice Committee
These last two weeks have been tough for our nation and around the world. We’ve seen the pictures, we heard “I can’t breathe” uttered yet again as we watched in horror as George Floyd’s death unfolded before our very eyes. We have seen marches held in all 50 states and may even have participated in a few. Protests in the U.S., Europe, Asia, and Africa all paid homage to a previously unknown black man who met a sad and brutal death in America. The death of George Floyd has shaken the world. The protests, the speeches, the rage, the fires. All indelibly impressed into the global consciousness.
The world is listening and watching. So how are we going to use this moment, this moment when the entire planet is poised for change, to defeat racism? It is white people who must now act. People of Color (POC) have, made presentations, written, called out, raged, rioted, suffered, and died to demonstrate our plight in a land so rife with racism that it has infiltrated the very fiber of American existence. It is now time for white people to acknowledge their responsibility for racism. It is you who created racism, it is you who must destroy it.
Black and Brown people face racism or its consequences every day of our lives. We face it personally, or by seeing the experience of family and friends. We watch it on TV or on the news, by reading history, - four hundred sad years of history,- by listening to the president and other conservative figures including AM radio talk show pundits, we face it in the numerous micro aggressions that wound like barbed hooks. And it hurts. It is a wonder that we function at all. But we do function and function well despite our trials. Black and Brown people are strong, imbued with Herculean strength. In certain cases, we’ve built up such a defensive tolerance for these “slings and arrows” that we barely acknowledge them when they occur. But it only takes a spark of above average injustice to bring these suppressed and painful experiences hurdling to the surface. This is what the white community needs to listen to, hear, and understand.
But listening is only the first step, doing the inner work and self-reflection necessary to rid yourself of racist beliefs, attitudes and conditioning is the second step. It is the task of POC to point out the profound damage of racism continually and vociferously; it is the work of white people to eradicate it. In this phase you are working to recognize that as a result of being white in America and through no fault of your own, you are inherently racist and privileged. You are working to become a clear channel, as unblocked by racist attitudes and beliefs as possible, through which anti-racism can flow.
The third step is to become an anti-racist. In this stage you work actively to combat racism. The white anti-racist talks the talk and walks the walk with their Black and Brown anti-racist brethren. The Anti-racist speaks up against racism when they see it, especially in white spaces, especially if you are white. You march, write, pontificate, call out, petition, speak and organize in accordance with your temperament and skill, but you find some way to fight racism. The anti-racist is not a non-racist which is the outcome of step two. The anti-racist is an active force that articulates that racism is not to be tolerated and makes that clear in the spaces they occupy. The anti-racist does not find excuses such as time limitations, work, children, not to act. There are so many spaces to express your anti-racism, they are anywhere and everywhere you go. If it is a group, or individual, name and shame; if it is a business then boycott; a politician, vote them out; if an event, march, and protest, demand legislation. There are too many ways to be an anti-racist to mention.
This three-step process of listening, inner work and anti-racism may not occur in a linear fashion. You may find that activism inspires listening which leads to inner work or any other combination of the three. One thing is for sure, we cannot let this pregnant moment in time pass us by. End Racism.
If you are interested in understanding more about inherent white racism you may find the following helpful (note, these are all videos and articles by white people):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTL-NcNC9TQ
https://www.upbeacon.com/article/2019/09/opinion-annika-whitepeopleletsimprove
https://forge.medium.com/what-it-means-to-accept-that-youre-racist-fbeef3839e47