I have no words for what's happening in the US right now. But I want to say something.
What happened to George Floyd breaks my heart.
And all the other, similar events.
But my words seem useless. What can I do?
I feel powerless.
I feel like anything I say will sound empty. I can't sleep at night for the wheels turning in my head trying to work out how to say ANYthing that doesn't sound like White Privilege apologizing for itself.
What happened to George Floyd breaks my heart.
And all the other, similar events.
But my words seem useless. What can I do?
I feel powerless.
I feel like anything I say will sound empty. I can't sleep at night for the wheels turning in my head trying to work out how to say ANYthing that doesn't sound like White Privilege apologizing for itself.
How do things like this happen?
What
world do we live in where anyone - any living human, law enforcement or
not - finds it legitimate to kneel on an unarmed, restrained man until
that man is dead? A 20 dollar bill? Really?
But I live on the far side of the planet. Continents away from the protests, from all of the hate crimes, the police brutality, the racism.
Living in Asia I occasionally feel racism against me, but it's nothing by comparison. Nothing. A bias, a sneer, a degrading look, perhaps hurtful words on social media. Nothing like violence, partly because I live in a generally non-violent country, but partly because of white privilege.
Because living in China and Vietnam, although some people dislike all of us foreigners for living here while belonging to a different country, many of those people will still treat me better than they do my darker-skinned fellow expats. And I don't know what to do about it.
My heart hurts for the world. My heart hurts for America. My heart already was hurting for my own losses.
My words may be useless, but they are all I have.
This was all bound to happen. The issues are kind of baked in. And then the election of the ineffectual racist, and things were being pushed in this direction.
ReplyDeleteNow, I don't know anything. Not really. But I kind of think this had to happen. The racists are going to stay racist, but the rest of us need to stop coddling then, explaining them, and excusing them. And we weren't going to do that as we had thought racism was "fixed".
We've got a lot of work to do. I think more of us are actually willing to do it now, though. I hope.
I think you're right. I think enough of us are upset enough to make changes. For the first time, I'm seeing people ask "how can I use my white privilege?" and seeing legitimate, helpful answers.
DeleteI watched the video and it made me sick and I've not been able to get it out of my mind or heart. I just have no more words and that is probably why so many are taking to the streets.
ReplyDeleteExactly. I have no words, but I wanted to write something. I have to get out of my head and out into the open.
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