What are you doing to be an anti-racist today and everyday? It’s not enough for us to say we aren’t racist. Unless we actively become anti-racist, we are part of the problem. It’s time to listen, learn, have difficult conversations, and stop making Black, Indigenous, and Persons of Color (BIPOC) carry the burden of educating white people over and over again.
I grew up in Oregon and I can’t remember being taught much, if any, Black history in school. How can that be, when it’s such an important, varied, vital, rich… and all too often shameful… part of our country’s history and legacy?!!! It’s like we were lied to by omission. I am angry about not knowing what I don’t know. But I vow to learn. And I know I’m not alone.
I did not know much about the two major Black historical events that are being commemorated this weekend… the horrific Tulsa Race Massacre (“Black Wall Street”), and Juneteenth, the commemoration of the end of slavery in the United States. If you want to learn more about them too, the article I posted here explains their importance and significance.
I want to know more and do more. We are at a turning point in this country. We can no longer claim ignorance. We have seen the videos, heard the stories of being Black in America, and shared the horror and heartache of families losing fathers, sons, daughters, mothers, and friends to violence, poverty, inadequate health care, social injustice and on and on. Their grief is our grief, and our shame.
All over the country (and the world!) people are saying, “NO MORE” and demanding change. It’s going to take a huge, ongoing, united effort by each and every one of us. We can’t sit back and be “watchers” figuring someone else will do the work. It’s up to me, and it’s up to you, to stop systemic racism in this country once and for all.
It’s also beyond time to make Juneteenth a national holiday.
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