[Lace Watkins]

https://laceonrace.com/2022/03/02/are-we-ready-to-ride/

*Are* We Ready to Ride?

Discussion

[Rebecca McClinton]

It has to be a both/and… fighting against the inequities here with as much fervor as I advocate and contribute elsewhere. What we are doing elsewhere must be an extension of what we are already doing here first. The personal flex’s that I see here are, ‘here is something new to focus on so I don’t have to look at what’s happening underneath my nose’. Or ‘hey I’ll talk about how bad racism is with my friends or in my household but I won’t call my boss out on it at work’. The both/and.It has to be a both/and… fighting against the inequities here with as much fervor as I advocate and contribute elsewhere. What we are doing elsewhere must be an extension of what we are already doing here first. The personal flex’s that I see here are, ‘here is something new to focus on so I don’t have to look at what’s happening underneath my nose’. Or ‘hey I’ll talk about how bad racism is with my friends or in my household but I won’t call my boss out on it at work’. The both/and.

[Kelsi Watters]

A wistfulness, yes, because our country, and particularly white people, have never learned not to compartmentalize or be inclusive. Black History month is only one month of the year, indeed the shortest month, even though Black history happens 365 days a year. Each Black History Month, white people come close to acknowledging Black people’s humanity, recogizing how much their tired hands have done, but not close enough. We treat Black History month like the Black Spring – sudden interest, “efforts” to be “inclusive”, and then as the month closes it all fizzles out again…to be continued next February. I wonder if part of the wistfulness Black and brown people experience is the ned to be fully seen and valued, and a small hope that maybe, this Black History month, things will be different. Maybe we white people will open the door, more than a fraction, enough to realize that true inclusion is a daily practice not limited to one month per year. What would it look like to authentically celebrate Black history by picking up the load carried by Black and brown people for so long, making changes happen that they have been fighting for? How can I, in my life and work, do my part to keep the door open 365 days a year? In some ways, it seems that the prayers anpoems I write have offered small doses of healing, or at the very least, a mustard seed of hope. However, writing is not enough in itself, I need to also reach out in the community, speak up, and applywhat I have been practicing here. As a healthcare chaplain, I think healthcare equity is one necessary avenue.

[Emily Holzknecht]

I still notice myself slipping into good/bad categorizations, as if a person or an organization failing in one area though doing good work in other areas makes that person and that organization just as bad or maybe even worse than a person or organization who does nothing with good intention. Canceling like that is easier, after all. It requires little critical thought and no effort to help improve the growth areas. I think this sort of thinking also contributes to ignoring things like systemic racism because it’s everywhere and if we’re used to cancelling instead of contributing to improvement, but we can’t cancel everything, then we go from cancelling to ignoring or to vehemently defending why it’s fine even though we know it really isn’t. If it’s not an either/or situation, then we can put the work in and contribute to improvement rather than cancelling or ignoring.

[Vicki van den Eikhof]

An interesting point about cancelling. Dominant culture just wants inconvenient realities to go away. So we’ll throw money at things, or cancel them, over simplify, or do any number of other things to not have to actually deal with the truth. It’s a form of denial, I think.

[Shannon Brescher Shea]

While it never mentions it specifically, this definitely reminds me of the widespread and unanimous support for Ukraine. Ukraine is easy to stand for in the U.S. because it doesn’t take any effort or sacrifice besides some small monetary donations. There’s a clear set of heroes and villains in people’s minds and no one is losing anything socially to align themselves with the “heroes.” Dealing with marginalized groups in the U.S. itself requires white people look at history and really think about why those groups are marginalized historically and today, especially Black people. And then us as white people have to face our own personal history and our current behavior in the context of that. None of that reflection is required to support Ukraine.

In addition, as the media coverage has shown, white people see themselves more in the photos of the Ukrainian people than they do in photos of American cities. The media coverage calls them “largely civilized” and “European,” as if people in other countries deserve war or are at least used to it. Or if people in our own country deserve poverty because of the color of their skin. That’s exactly why there’s no social struggle or sacrifice.

In addition, people aren’t willing to even show an extended emotional effort. Now that the war is continuing past that initial week, coverage and concern is both dying off. Even for a topic that’s “easy,” the behavior is the opposite of the relentless reliability we talk about here. I know concern fatigue is real. But I think Lace’s focus on action rather than just feelings shows us how burnout is because we’re being microwaves instead of woks and not really living out our values in useful ways.

As for the environmentalist piece at the end, I have learned so much as an environmentalist from the Black and Indigenous environmental justice advocates. They’ve really illustrated how everything is connected and the most marginalized people are the most hurt by environmental harm.

[Shara Cody]

White people jumping out of their seats (as far as they ever jump for anything that doesn’t benefit them anyway) in support of Ukraine while staying silent to the harm they themselves perpetuate to Black and brown people every day must feel like another punch. And sadly, it’s probably an expected punch for people of color as supremacy twists attention towards other white people. I’m locating myself in this in not being able to hold onto multiple things at once well and not focusing on those who are right beside me and the work right in front of me. That lack of focus, making excuses that there is “too much”, and resulting lack of action are the ways that I tell myself I’m ready to ride but the reality is that I’m looking to ride the brakes.

[Author]

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