HERE’S MY CHALLENGE IF YOU DON’T THINK YOU’RE RACIST
I protested in Newport Beach today for George Floyd. I didn’t know what to expect. All I know, was that it felt uncomfortable walking there — but I kept on. I kept thinking, “will there be any black people there? Will it just be white privileged locals and random people on holiday from Omaha? Will they have any idea what the 🤬 is going on?” I had no idea WHAT was going to happen.
I was one of the first thirty to gather, so yah, the smallness felt a little awkward — but I persisted. I leaned into the discomfort. I imagined, just for a minute how awkward 100% percent of black people feel EVERY SINGLE day. I imagined the target they feel on their chest and back. I imagined how distgusting black people have been treated on all fronts. I wanted every ounce of discofort I could handle.
The discomfort of standing with a group and onlookers staring at you.
The discomfort of it being hot, wearing a mask and sweating like crazy.
The discomfort of having trouble breathing in the heat with a mask on.
The discomfort of rallying with strangers.
The discomfort of chanting with others.
The discomfort of something being new.
How dumb is it to actually type out all of those discomforts? Innocent black people have been killed in the streets by our government authorities and I’m complaining to myself about BEING HOT? That’s 🤬 up.
How selfish.
How privileged.
This then got me thinking, why haven’t I been to a protest before? Why is this my first protest? After having a think while walking back from the protest, I realized — it wasn’t CONVENIENT enough for me.
The protest was too far away.
I didn’t know WHERE it was being held.
I didn’t know WHAT TIME it was being held.
I have kids — how was I going to protest? What were they going to do?
BLAH — BLAH — BLAH
Basically, it means — I didn’t value the black race as much as I valued my own. Plain and simple — a 🤬 ‘n privileged and racist way of thinking.
Now, I consider myself to be very forward thinking and understanding about racism. But, even this — SHOOK ME. Dammit — I missed it, forgive me.
This led to a big thought blowing up in my brain which was, “if I have racist forms of thinking then it’s guaranteed every white person is racist.”
If you’re not physically showing your presence at a protest then what you’re saying is the same thing as I was saying — it’s not CONVENIENT for me. You may think it’s good and proud of them and stand with them — but if you can’t PHYSICALLY do it — racism is alive in you.
George Floyd is dead because a police officer HELD him down and the other sat and WATCHED in silence. THINK about the silence as much as the STOMP on his neck.
Think about WHY you haven’t been to a protest?
What if all of Orange County showed up to a protest? It would be the exact result that George Floyd wanted as well as every black person in America. They want to be heard — not watched on the news or social media.
They want to know you are with them — not just clapping as you sit on your Restoration Hardware couch.
In the end we will remember not the words of our enemies but the silence of our friends. — Martin Luther King Jr.
