Hope and Encouragement: Making People in Power Uncomfortable

"The bottom line is, I’ve been hearing a little bit of chatter in the internet about voting versus protest, politics and participation versus civil disobedience and direct action. This is not a either/or this is a both/and. To bring about real change, we both have to highlight a problem and make people in power uncomfortable, but we also have to translate that into practical solutions and laws that can be implemented and we can monitor and make sure we’re following up on. "--Barack Obama, town hall meeting 6/3/2020

Obama was, and still is, all about hope.

And there have been signs of great hope.

The whole movement, at his core, is hopeful. The protests have been carrying on for more than two weeks now, in big cities and small towns across the United States. As I write this, the nation is seeing its third weekend of protests. The protests are now peaceful in most communities. The protesters are diverse. Young and old, black, white, people from all backgrounds, and everyone else, have come together to fight injustice. And this is wonderful. They have decided that this is important enough to come out and protest, shoulder to shoulder, even in the middle of a pandemic. Millions have decided that yes, this is worth risking their life.

And as of today, there is no sign that the momentum is slowing. People are motivated and mobilizing.

In case you need proof, here are some tidbits of hope I've collected.

Maybe most importantly, people are confronting their own subtle (and not-so-subtle) racism and white privilege. There is a lot of introspection going on. Many of my friends have said that they are confronting their white privilege and their insulation from racism. They are looking at racism within themselves. They are embracing change and growth. This is a good start! It's going to take all of us to effect change.

Cops have been taking a knee or have been marching with protesters. Some cynics may believe this is meant to fool us and soften us. I don't believe in conspiracy theories. I choose to believe these folks are genuine and represent hope.

Here's just a few, but photos like these have been taken all over the country.

Atlanta: Christian Science Monitor

KMSP Channel 9, Minneapolis-St. Paul

Santa Barbara Indpendent

The protests have spilled over our borders. Protesters are joining us in France, New Zealand, The Netherlands, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Greece, Denmark, Syria, Mexico, Brazil, and Canada, among other places. Just think: the movement is important enough to millions of people around the world to risk their lives.

Most of these other places are examining their own inequality issues, and may now look to the United States as a leader once again if we can keep the movement moving forward strongly.

Especially moving was this Haka performed by some supportive New Zealanders.

THIS! Literally just brought me to tears. This is so beautiful. Our Polynesian Brothers and Sisters doing their traditional Haka for Black Lives Matter in New Zealand. The world is coming together and it is so beautiful. #blacklivesmatter #georgefloyd #breonnataylor #ahmadarbery pic.twitter.com/8zLNeQJCmr

— Melany Centeno (@_NotISaidTheCat) June 1, 2020

I was at the first large local protest on May 31. I found it hopeful. I did not expect to be among a crowd of 3000 masked protestors at the County Courthouse, listening to the many black stories and demands. I did not expect to be marching in the street peacefully and purposefully. It was the biggest protest I had been in since the Women's March on January 21, 2017. To me, it embodied hope. Here are my pictures:

Socially-distanced protestors listen to black speakers making their demands.

Say their names.

A fellow Karen came from L.A. to protest

Even my toddler granddaughter got involved.

The momentum is finally taking Confederate statues down.

• Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam planned to remove the Robert E. Lee statue from the Richmond. A judge has temporarily blocked the plan, but hopefully it will eventually be removed. 

• Statues will be removed in Alexandria, Virgina, too; as well as in Alabama, Tennessee, and Florida. 

• Our brothers and sisters in Great Britain removed a statue of a slave trader and threw it in the river. 

• NASCAR has banned the use of the Confederate flag. What the what?! NASCAR? This is big! 

• Fredericksburg, Virginia removed a slave auction block from their downtown. 

Other local governments are honoring the Black Lives Matter movement by renaming streets and landmarks:

Within days of the protests' beginnings, mayor Muriel Bowser of Washington D.C. sent a powerful message when she ordered the words "Black Lives Matter" to be painted, spanning the entire street and stretching for two blocks leading to the White House. It's a message big enough to see from space. This was shortly after she renamed Lafayette Plaza, the site where SCROTUS violently cleared the way for his tone-deaf photo op. The new name? See below.

New York City mayor Bill DeBlasio has announced plans to rename a street in each NYC borough "Black Lives Matter." 

A discussion from coast to coast has begun to reform the police. One idea is to defund the police. No, it doesn't mean abolish the police. I'll tackle what this means in a future post.

There has already been action on police reform in cities from coast to coast. 

New Jersey: chokeholds haven been barred, and the state is reviewing and updating other use-of-force guidelines

New York City: funding for police is being shifted

New York State: police disciplinary records will be more available to the public. 

Maryland: the state has formed a police reform work group

Washington D.C.: the city council worked fast on reform legislation. 

Boston: the mass transit system has refused to use public buses to transport police to protest sites.

Minneapolis: there are motions to dismantle its police department. 

Dallas: chokeholds are no longer legal

Portland: Police officers will no longer work in high schools

Seattle: funding is being shifted to community programs and a Black Commission has been formed

Reno: barred chokeholds and is working on deescalation policies

Davis, CA: chokeholds have been barred, among other policy reforms including new requirements for officers to intervene when a fellow officer uses excessive force.

Los Angeles: defunding is underway, with the city council moving toward reducing the LAPD budget.

Firings and suspensions are on the upswing across the country for police misconduct.

Camden, NJ may be a model for many cities, as they disbanded and rebuilt their police department several years ago. 

The U.S. House of Representatives, as well as the Senate, have introduced bills addressing police reform. It's something, but undoubtedly if they can get anything passed and signed by "law and order" Asshole-in-Chief, it will be tepid at best. We need to focus our efforts on the local level. States and cities will have more power to implement reform.

The one barrier, is police unions. Police unions have been a large part of the root of the problem in police abuse. They work to protect officers at all costs, even (especially?) the really rotten ones. Minneapolis is moving to confront the union issue. 

This is going to be a long and contentious discussion. White people in power want to stay in power. So buckle up and get ready to get involved in your city's discussions about police reform. NOW is the time for you to call, write, and go to city council meetings. 

Other signs of hope:

 "Cops" has been canceled and "Gone With the Wind" was yanked from HBO Max 

Merriam-Webster has changed its definition of "racism" after a request by a young black woman. 

Kpop fans have emerged as an unlikely BLM support system.

The Confederate flag has been banned from being displayed publicly by the U.S. Marine Corps and the U.S. Navy. There is a movement to rename U.S. military bases named after Confederate soldiers. Why in the hell were they named after people who took up arms against the United States in the first place? The movement is getting some pushback, predictably, from the Racist-in-Chief.

Corporations and businesses have responded. Pay attention. Your money talks. Vote with it. Here are some statements that have been released. 

I especially want to share Ben and Jerry's statement. Powerful stuff.

We Must Dismantle White Supremacy

All of us at Ben & Jerry’s are outraged about the murder of another Black person by Minneapolis police officers last week and the continued violent response by police against protestors. We have to speak out. We have to stand together with the victims of murder, marginalization, and repression because of their skin color, and with those who seek justice through protests across our country. We have to say his name: George Floyd.

George Floyd was a son, a brother, a father, and a friend. The police officer who put his knee on George Floyd’s neck and the police officers who stood by and watched didn’t just murder George Floyd, they stole him. They stole him from his family and his friends, his church and his community, and from his own future.

The murder of George Floyd was the result of inhumane police brutality that is perpetuated by a culture of white supremacy. What happened to George Floyd was not the result of a bad apple; it was the predictable consequence of a racist and prejudiced system and culture that has treated Black bodies as the enemy from the beginning. What happened to George Floyd in Minneapolis is the fruit borne of toxic seeds planted on the shores of our country in Jamestown in 1619, when the first enslaved men and women arrived on this continent. Floyd is the latest in a long list of names that stretches back to that time and that shore. Some of those names we know — Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Oscar Grant, Eric Garner, Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Emmett Till, Martin Luther King, Jr. — most we don’t.

The officers who murdered George Floyd, who stole him from those who loved him, must be brought to justice. At the same time, we must embark on the more complicated work of delivering justice for all the victims of state sponsored violence and racism.

Four years ago, we publicly stated our support for the Black Lives Matter movement. Today, we want to be even more clear about the urgent need to take concrete steps to dismantle white supremacy in all its forms. To do that, we are calling for four things:

First, we call upon President Trump, elected officials, and political parties to commit our nation to a formal process of healing and reconciliation. Instead of calling for the use of aggressive tactics on protestors, the President must take the first step by disavowing white supremacists and nationalist groups that overtly support him, and by not using his Twitter feed to promote and normalize their ideas and agendas. The world is watching America’s response.

Second, we call upon the Congress to pass H.R. 40, legislation that would create a commission to study the effects of slavery and discrimination from 1619 to the present and recommend appropriate remedies. We cannot move forward together as a nation until we begin to grapple with the sins of our past. Slavery, Jim Crow, and segregation were systems of legalized and monetized white supremacy for which generations of Black and Brown people paid an immeasurable price. That cost must be acknowledged and the privilege that accrued to some at the expense of others must be reckoned with and redressed.

Third, we support Floyd’s family’s call to create a national task force that would draft bipartisan legislation aimed at ending racial violence and increasing police accountability. We can’t continue to fund a criminal justice system that perpetuates mass incarceration while at the same time threatens the lives of a whole segment of the population.

And finally, we call on the Department of Justice to reinvigorate its Civil Rights Division as a staunch defender of the rights of Black and Brown people. The DOJ must also reinstate policies rolled back under the Trump Administration, such as consent decrees to curb police abuses.

Unless and until white America is willing to collectively acknowledge its privilege, take responsibility for its past and the impact it has on the present, and commit to creating a future steeped in justice, the list of names that George Floyd has been added to will never end. We have to use this moment to accelerate our nation's long journey towards justice and a more perfect union.

Side note: Contrast this with this statement from my professional organization. For a group of people devoted to communication, they fell woefully short in both effective communication and in substance. After nearly 50,000 members condemned this message, ASHA revised its statement. Below is the original tone-deaf statement and here is the revised statement.

Penzeys Spices, a wonderful, progressive company, shared this video of hope arising from the protests in Minneapolis. Please buy from Penzeys. Besides being progressive and vocal, they produce amazing spices!

And now, some Encouragement.

We have Hope. But Hope is not the end.

“A goal without a plan is just a wish.” ― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Right now it feels like the goals and the plans are unsurmountable.

So many of us have begun to do the hard work of self-reflection. We are learning about racism in the world and within ourselves. We are acknowledging our white privilege and finally understanding that it's unfair.

It's uncomfortable work, but it's important work. Don't be afraid to make mistakes as you learn about racism and face your white privledge. Keep going. Keep learning. We have been fed the pablum for a long time; it will take some time to un-learn some things and learn new things.

I saw a good analogy floating around. It likened white people's experience to showing up an hour late to class. You neither expect the professor to show great gratitude that you made it to class, nor do you expect him to sit down with you and explain what you missed in the last hour. No, you open your book, get other students' notes, read and research, and try to catch up. In this case, we are 400 years late. There's a lot of catching up to do.

If it feels uncomfortable, that's because you are squeezing out of your old cocoon. It's ok to be uncomfortable. Just keep squeezing.

And don't stop with just your own expanding understanding. Once you acknowledge your white privilege, or as one friend called it, unearned advantage, you must act to effect change. This is going to be a long-haul operation. Keep the outrage, keep the momentum. Know that your one action today, right now, is going to move us forward.

It feels overwhelming how much work there is to do. There are multiple factors, multiple layers to these Racist States of America. To dismantle systemic racism, it is going to take concerted effort and a lot of time. But don't get discouraged. 

"I am only one; but still I am one. I cannot do everything; but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do the something that I can do." – Everett Edward Hale

History will view this moment as no less than the spark point of a revolution. If we let it be. 

Do your piece. You don't have to do it all. If all of us millions carry one small little piece, it will build up a mountain.

Just pick a lane...

Or pick a class...

....but do something.

And here are many somethings to try. 

Continue learning how to be an ally.

• Save this outstanding guide! Justice in June gives allies a concrete action plan, whether you have 10 minutes per day to spare, or more. 
• Here is another Guide to Allyship

Join Color of Change to help with action.

Donate to organizations that are helping fight injustice:

Southern Poverty Law Center

Equal Justice Initiative

ACLU

NAACP

Black Lives Matter

Black Voters Matter Fund

Fair Fight

Now, you may have noticed that in my last few posts I haven't much mentioned the latest symptom of the widespread cancer that has infected our nation for 400 years: the 45th "president" of the United States. His response to the death of George Floyd and the larger Black Lives Matter movement has been about what you would expect. I don't want him in this space right now; I'd rather focus on the positives today.

The people in power are becoming uncomfortable. And some are becoming another source of hope. I'll let these Republicans speak their minds. This movement has moved some powerful Republicans to speak out against the Racist-in-Chief.

Sen Mitt Romney (R-UT) protested with the marchers in D.C.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) is "struggling" in her support of IMPOTUS
George W's secretary of state Gen. Colin Powell has endorsed Joe Biden.
And former secretary of defense James Mattis denounced him in a strong rebuke.

Pat Robertson condemned 45's militant stance (what the what?! Pat Robertson?!). "You just don't do that, Mr. President. It isn't cool."

...and I'll end by Stephen Colbert and John Oliver offer some pretty profound thoughts. Please watch.

Stephen Colbert:

John Oliver on This Week Tonight:

Let's roll.