For our August meeting, Landon had us watch James Baldwin's- I'm not your negro. James Baldwin was friends with many key players in the civil rights movement of the 50's and 60's.
Medgar Evers
Martin Luther King Jr
Malcolm X
He was the only one of these men that didn't get killed.
This documentary is filled with historical images and video with a voice over of what James wrote looking back on his life in 1978. IT's interesting to see who is on the "right" side of history as you hear so many voices and faces screaming white supremacy type words and actions. I like to think my family would be with the ones sitting at the counters, boycotting the busses, keeping our children in an integrated school, and standing for our black brothers and sisters back then.
“If we want America to fully live up to its ideals, we have to tell an unapologetic interpretation of America's history, told from those who were on the ground to experience it.” - James Baldwn.
James Baldwin: “You are personally responsible for becoming more ethical than the society you grew up in. “
As we meet once a month on Zoom, we continue to learn from each other and want change in our community and country.
Here are some random thoughts we discussed:
How can we be good Allies? Truly our lives are fine, but we are our brother's keeper and we need to take care of ourselves so we can engage with others in a positive way.
We continue to post and question and try to push privileged people’s beliefs a little.
My son's recent rebuttal to a “there is no racism in our country. If you work hard you succeed" - comment on one of his posts:
“The systems in place in this country are racist. We still have a long way to go! I’ll watch that Uncle Tom documentary if you’ll go and watch the 13th documentary- it shows it's not a partisan issue.
White people are very captivated by black agents of white supremacy like Candace Owens and the Hodge twins. It makes us feel like nothing is wrong- and, I get it- we make the assumption that because they are black people who agree with white supremacy and a racist system that they are the BEST people to follow. 86% of black people agree that racism is a systemic issue- it’s hard to get 86% of a group to agree on anything- so I choose to believe and follow them rather than the select few that make white people feel comfortable.”
“Most people do not see things as they ARE, they see things as THEY are.” - Richard Rohr
Monson: Heroes in our movies- if white like John Wayne then would automatically be a hero. Black or Indigenous people portrayed as the villain or the bad guy. Media represents All white as good and Black as less than.
Bre: Shared talking to family friends and the teenagers and parents saying, "How come they never taught us this?" Who is they?? It’s no one’s job to tell you the truth or history of our country, especially now with information overload. The challenge now is to make sure you are getting your history and news from sources who don't take sides and just report what happened.
Landon: What can we do?
Reach out on the local level. Ask the Police, Mayors, Elected officials where are the racial disparities? Who is making the decisions and who isn't represented? This may make others uncomfortable, and that's the point. AND WE NEED TO VOTE.
Tru: Police brutality still happening. Why is it no big deal??? Why have we normalized this violence?
Wayne: The rioting hijacks the narrative for social change. It's random "edge" people on both sides who keep up the terror and destruction, like the 17-year-old kid who went to the third night of the protests/riots in Kenosh, WI who showed up with a semi-automatic rifle and killed two people.
Being an ALLY feels hard at times, but this rule is good to remember when posting, commenting, etc... it's the 20/60/20 rule.
20% of the people will be on your side— committed to change and love and a growth mindset. 20% will be fixed in what they believe with little or no chance of changing them. BUT there is the 60% in the middle who we have a possibility of giving new ideas and ways to think about life. So when I’m commenting to the fixed 20% I’m never trying to change them…. I’m preaching to the 60% who may read it and think.. “Huh, I’ve never thought about it like that before… interesting…. you might be right.”
It's always good to get together and have these discussions. It's always a little hard and tender for Laila. She really feels all of this deeply. We are trying to stay in a growth mindset. We continue to feel we are on the "right" side of history around all of it.
Tru is in charge for September.
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