Last week, we shared a moving piece written by Christine Margiotta entitled, Building an Anti-Racist Community. In it, she tasked each of us to Be, to Reflect, to Learn, and to Act. In that spirit, the next four pieces will follow that trajectory, starting with the following poem penned by Marta.
BE
by Marta Gazerra Ferro
White House, I’m dreaming of a white Christmas, white washed, white supremacy, white fragility.
What. The. Fuck. When is the white privileged world going to wake up. Truly wake up, stand up, own our making of our ugly history and demand better of ourselves?
It’s not enough to ride on the conveyer belt of life thinking we aren’t racist. We actually have to walk against its momentum and take a stand. It’s called anti-racist. It’s called standing up, speaking out, co-conspiring on the fight of our lives that should have ended with the Civil War but really just morphed and perpetuated into its next iterations of injustice.
Murder. Last breaths escaping. Black boys everywhere, everyone scared and scarred. Forced to face the harsh, utter lack of safety and respect they deserve. Just because. No. Not again.
Call in. Call out. Rage and preach and love side by side with our Black brothers and sisters, friends and soulmates, cousins and parents, children and students.
Our actions, demands for justice, inability to stay quiet, pounding the table, resolve to change our lens, is imperative. Unpack our taken-for-granted backpack and refill it with something else. Something stronger and righteous. Start somewhere. Please. Everyone.
Yes, of course, comfort and support. But that’s simply not enough. We must come together at a much deeper, systemic level. We can’t sleep at night in our white cocoons. Safe and sound.
While others fear for their lives at a moment’s notice.
It’s not ok to be approached, questioned, arrested on your own lawn, door, house, street, neighborhood, city, country just because you’re Black. Condescended. Scared. Hurt. Shoved. Face smashed. Windpipe constricted. Brain damaged. Bleeding. Death.
Teach our children the truth. Demand representation and diversity in every room, at every table. Hire. Fair wages. Belonging. Being human.
Get to the root of why and how difference, and fear, and power have shaped our history. And how we can shift this momentous atrocity. When will compassion, reason and equity reign? When will we apologize and repair to the level required? Demanded. By us. By white.
Kidnapped, tortured, beaten, sold, degraded, raped, abused, stolen, murdered, arrested, abandoned, underrepresented, incarcerated. No more.
Trauma is passed down. Safety lessons too. We need to create a “talk” for white boys and girls too. About fighting for Black lives and not stopping until justice prevails. Because Black Lives Matter.
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