Facebook Publication Date: 11/4/2018 22:11

An open letter to Lisa Murrick Dregne, a community member here who deserves our best effort.

Hey, Lisa.

Let’s talk about white supremacy for a moment. We had an exchange on the referendum post, but we feel it is important that this be given pride of place, and authentic consideration. Our community of fellow walkers have a great amount of collective wisdom, and I look forward to seeing it here.

There are some things that, despite Lisa’s protestations, are just true. Let’s stipulate them now.

Hate crimes have increased in the last two years. It could be argued that they are simply being reported more than in the past, but the facts, both anecdotal and actual, belie that.

There is a cohort of white people who have moved way past dog whistles to candid bleating, who have whipped up people with inflammatory words, and, despite their disavowal and attempts to distance themselves when churches and temples are shot through and leave carnage in their wake, bear responsibility and culpability in what they have unleashed.

Acts of domestic terrorism are on the rise, and it is not brown or black people who are doing it. This, and the reluctance of both our putative leaders and the media to call a thing a thing, have held our country under siege.

Let me be clear. This is not new. And there is a throughline from the very founding of this country that gives primacy and pride of place to one cohort of people at the expense of others.

There is much to unpack, but for these purposes, we can look at two things, one external, the other internal.

It is chilling the number of people who sound like they were transported from Birmingham circa 1963. Who feel beleaguered and resentful at gains made by those they feel unworthy. As well, the permission granted by both government and unfortunate cultural shifts that have done nothing to stop, and in fact have egged on those who would do violence, whether virtual, verbal, or actual has given carte blanche for people to act on their worst impulses.

Which brings us to the internal. Donald Trump ran on race. Again nothing new; Republicans have ran on race since the Southern Strategy–and that playbook has not diluted, but rather has been ripped page by page by modern pundits, and, most importantly for our purposes here, by candidates, who have talked in blatant ways to both reinforce the (imagined) demise of white primacy, and to whip up a base who, after years of down low racism is now encouraged to act on their basest impulses.

We are talking about what we see in the news, yes. But we are also talking about things that never make print, much less headlines. When you are voting on school bonds, you are voting on race. As well, when you support local governments who use voter suppression to quash a rising tide, you are supporting white supremacy. When you elect Congresspeople who cynically gerrymander districts so as to hold on to the power to oppress, you are enabling white supremacy. When you vote for ‘law and order’, without doing the work of analyzing what that phrase has meant and still does mean, you are voting for violent means with with to brutally enforce an existing order that benefits you.

Again, praxis is born from internal state. Lisa, if you have been in this community, you know that we focus on the internal. We do make some assumptions; that that internal work is being done with moral intention; that is, we assume that we are working with and walking with good people who want to do better.

But the internal cuts both ways, Lisa. Whether it is because of malevolent intent, or willful denial, rationalization, and dissembling, or the choice to stay asleep and ignorant and unaffected, the internal states of those who support hateful appeals, whether it be from active toxic works, or from passive collusion were in place before Trump or Bannon or Miller made a move. What they needed were people that would wake those sleeper cells that never dissipated, but rather lay dormant until the right key unleashed Pandora’s box–a box that was already firmly ensconced in psyches and in souls.

A story for you , Lisa. About three years ago, I was punched in the face by a random girl in a shopping mall. She was either on drugs she shouldn’t have had, or she wasn’t on meds that she needed. She was out of control, and the fight she had with her companion left her with rage that she displaced to me, who was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

But this is not the point of the story. This is: even though I had a weapon of sorts that could have done real damage (as it happens, a stand alone toilet paper holder, made of strong iron) even though I was scared, and in that moment definitely oppressed, it never occurred to me to raise that weapon and hurt my assailant.

This is not the point of the story either, really, but rather this: even though I also had the power to hurt others, I chose not to displace my anger and fear on to others. Because my internal convictions, honed through years, made that an impossibility. Put another way, Lisa, most times, people only act on what they have already considered.

It comes down to practice, doesn’t it, Lisa? If you are primed to blame others, and to feel that the only thing you have to lead with is your skin tone–you will use any weapon you have; your own toilet paper holder as it were. If you are too frightened to do it yourself, you will ask agents of the state to do it for you.

Brass tacks, Lisa, despite your fondness for all caps and your vehement denial of racism in your soul, it may be profitable for you to do some internal work to see if you have even one part per million, one mustard seed of supremacy that drives your choices, like the one you chose to make today.

I’ll give you the answer key for free. You do. And you are indeed weaponized. And who you are here is nothing more or less than who you are.

For whatever reason (probably nefarious) you’re here. And we here are well practiced in walking with you. If you want to get free.

Because white supremacy hurts you too; stunts your growth; blunts your humanity.

But here, we believe in course correction; that nobody is their worst impulses, or their snarky passive aggressive remarks that are ultimately ineffective. Put another way, your toilet paper holder failed to land.

Compassion, Lisa Murrick Dregne: This world has changed, and there are reasons why you have chosen not to. When I see people trolling my first thought is ‘what happened’?

A great writer once said, more than 50 years ago, that America is where it is in regards to race because America failed to create a just and equitable society *for white people*. Still true.

So yes, compassion. But also resolve. And admonition. While I can, while we can, keep you in compassion, we still insist on a standard of behavior and discourse here that will not be breached without commentary. You are who you are. But you don’t have to stay that way.

Walk with us.

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