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October 30, 2016
I will begin with a poem by Warsan Shire:
what they did yesterday afternoon
they set my aunts house on fire
i cried the way women on tv do
folding at the middle
like a five-pound note.
i called the boy who used to love me
tried to ‘okay’ my voice
i said hello
he said warsan, what’s wrong, what’s happened?
i’ve been praying,
and these are what my prayers look like;
dear god
i come from two countries
one is thirsty
the other is on fire
both need water.
later that night
i held an atlas in my lap
ran my fingers across the whole world
and whispered
where does it hurt?
it answered
everywhere
everywhere
everywhere.
A
man went to the doctor for a threatening illness. He avoided it as long as I could, but he thought of his family. If it was bad he had to prepare for the worst. He had several tests performed and the results came back. The doctor called the man in to explain the results. “It’s just as we expected, sir. You have two chronic diseases. They’re very common but there is little hope of completely eradicating the condition. You have both racism and sexism.”
man went to the doctor for a threatening illness. He avoided it as long as I could, but he thought of his family. If it was bad he had to prepare for the worst. He had several tests performed and the results came back. The doctor called the man in to explain the results. “It’s just as we expected, sir. You have two chronic diseases. They’re very common but there is little hope of completely eradicating the condition. You have both racism and sexism.”That’s our diagnosis. The influence of centuries of misinformation is impossible to eradicate. We've been working on it for centuries. We always drift back to that same scenario in one form or another. During the 60s the surgeon tried the narrow approach with major legal strategies to eradicate hatred. We hoped that laws could diminish hate and level the playing field. The fact is that has failed to resolve the issue. The result was just like reconstruction after the civil war. After a few years the confederates regrouped.
i come from two countries
one is thirsty
the other is on fire
both need water.
So in our struggle today we have to cast a wider net. The single most painful word in the English language is the N-word. We don’t even utter that word in polite company. It brings all the power and hatred of violence that we might expect in Nazi Germany. The second most painful word to be uttered is "racist." We use that word today to cast that wider net. We realize that the fabric of our society supports hate based on skin color. We don’t support it like a skin-head nazi, we support it in broader, more subtle ways. We support it by refusing to ruin a dinner party to correct a racist comment. We support it by choosing to not befriend those descendants of African slaves. We support it by having lots of diverse friends but all of them are immigrants rather than Native Americans or descendants of African slaves. We support racism when we filter our dialogs on our listserv. We support it in the way we select who we allow to speak at our church. We support it by believing that nice people aren’t racists. We’re all good people, us racists. We’re nice people. All of us who appear white are racist. White people created racism in this country. It’s a white problem. White people benefit to this day. That’s not to say that white people have an easy life. White people have the work to do to change it.
i come from two countries
one is thirsty
the other is on fire
both need water.
You can’t expect to change society if you don’t change. I don't like to change. It is uncomfortable. As I've gotten older I have some medical issues that require me to change diets. I hate changing my diet. I like my comfort food. We choose areas where we accept being uncomfortable: traveling, leaving the house, going to restaurants, driving, whatever. People of color certainly don't have the same luxury. They have a level of discomfort in every day life that would be paralyzing to me. They have the fear produced by the civil war all around them. There is no refuge from that torment. The psychotrauma aspect of this condition is that they're lulled into a belief that it is their fault. This is called Internalized White Superiority.
I always think of the 60s as Civil Rights 1.0. It was the first version and we are currently in the second part of that struggle with its' own challenges. But that's a white mans thinking. Black people have been in this struggle for 400 years at least.
i come from two countries
one is thirsty
the other is on fire
both need water.
I think we are compelled by sensationalism of the media that portray other places in shocking terms while our own children here are in desparate need. We have a war going on here. Children are not starving in the sense of lacking food. They are starving in ghettos that are food deserts. Our food deserts pen in a population of black children who don't have a grocery nearby. We have a war going on here. Black children are starving for education in systems that still segregate by skin color and income. Black men are incarcerated. Black men are executed for meaningless crimes and the perpetrators are not brought to justice. Even in a war zone there is justice. We are near a war zone and don't even realize it. We may stand next to our darker skinned brother and not know the turmoil that stresses him to an early grave. The war is not a traditional war. It's more of a sniper war. During the 60s the black power movement lost their top leaders through assassination, discrediting and banishment. Then the drug war happened and further devastated communities. We believe the media because we see pictures. There is some credibility in pictures. Now that we have pictures of police brutality things are coming to awareness at a much greater pace. But the pictures of the other struggles for descendants of slaves aren't so apparent. There is a real chance every day in every black family that someone won't come home alive that day. You can't take a picture of that type of realization.
i come from two countries
one is thirsty
the other is on fire
both need water.
We have a debt and an obligation politically and spiritually. we are not whole until we create justice and account for the past that we benefit from
We need to be aware of the wider definition of racism which implies that all dominant oppressors who live here are racist
We have to realize this is a spiritual journey where our liberation is tied to the liberation of our black skinned brothers
<Love them as you love yourselves>
I come from two countries – one is on fire the other is thirsty, both need water
"If you have come here to help me, then you are wasting your time…But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together."
--Lila Watson