A year ago this month, America was in utter turmoil. While COVID-19 raged and the election loomed, a long, hot summer of national protests, from sea to shining sea, were just getting started. George Floyd was not yet a month in his grave, and Louisville was seething over the death of Breonna Taylor, as the city’s investigation concluded, and those responsible began to face the possibility of repercussions.
No matter how different parties may have felt about police brutality before George Floyd, America couldn’t help but speak up. Some who typically defended police, had to concede the injustice of George Floyd’s killing, that he was indeed murdered by police. Many who had come to expect the most unjust result in spite of protests, still protested. For others, confronting the issue of racism was a newer concept. White Americans in particular, were as vocal as ever against racism. But they certainly still had plenty of their family and friends to argue with.
Sitting at home social distancing with kids on summer “vacation”, I read racism/anti-racism arguments in news and commentary, and tried to explain to people what things like privilege were, until I felt like I was going to explode. When I’d just about had it, I wrote this piece.
Instead of writing the extremely long Facebook status I may have composed before, I got onto my squirmy newborn blog site, and hammered it out: everything I’d tried to explain to so many people who just couldn’t seem to grasp what racism is. And these were not only people who disagreed with me. Some people who defended my rights didn’t quite have it right either. I told myself, instead of writing blocks of box comments, I’d just write it out one last time and drop people a link when I felt I needed to. If they cared, they could read it. If not, what else could I do?
Well, I got more than I bargained for. It felt great to have it written. And within a few months, I’d be raising up that baby blog site on a daily basis. One year later, here we are . . .
On today’s date one hundred fifty-six years ago, the last American slaves were freed. Here‘s a story from last year’s 155-year celebration, an especially relevant Juneteenth. A year later, Joe Biden is President, with Kamala Harris as Vice, and Juneteenth is a national holiday. Former Minneapolis police officer, Derek Chauvin, is officially a murder convict. Ahmaud Arbery’s killers, in Georgia, are being charged with federal hate crimes. Breonna Taylor’s killers, not so much. We still live in a country that was founded on the principle that one race of people deserved power over others. And despite the way our last election went, considering the portion of our country that proudly brought us January 6, we clearly still have a lot to learn and a lot to teach.
So, as a sneak peek: What is race? Is it real? How does race define racism (if it’s not real)? What is systemic racism? Is prejudice the same thing as racism? Is discrimination? What about reverse racism? And what is privilege? Does privilege mean you’re a racist? If I don’t like racism, does that mean I’m anti-racist? Just what exactly does it all mean?
If you’re not sure of the answers to any one of these questions, please read. I wrote this for you.
-Maude
June 19, 2021