Black Lives Matter

photo credit HBCUBuzz

The past week and a half has been somber, sobering, educational, transformative, emotional, draining, humbling, and so many other things. Like many White woman who are bloggers and have a presence on Instagram I chose to “mute” my voice last week, and amplify the voices of People of Color, most specifically Black people. In addition to amplifying, I also absorbed a lot of information and as an exercise of compiling some of my thoughts all in once place (to some extent… there was just so much to take in) I’d like to do a round up of what has stood out to me this past week, what I feel like I’ve learned and new voices and accounts I’ve started to follow online.

I don’t have to be an activist to be an anti-racist.
Without a doubt this has been my most personal paradigm shift. As you know for so many years I have spent my time interviewing various people from the disability community, sharing their stories, sharing our own and learning about disability in general and disability rights over the years. Of course having a daughter who is disabled is a huge part of why I do this work. And because ableism and the general discrimination of disabled people has been such (and continues to be) a huge wake up call to me, I felt the need to fully divest myself into this kind of activism. And I still do. That hasn’t changed.

But what has changed is the reality that being a disability advocate does not divest me from the need to actively engage in anti-racism work personally. See, for so long I felt like “they have enough voices, everyone talks about race… disability discrimination is not even on people’s radar.” I thought, I don’t have time to do both–disability is my lane. But what I didn’t realize, is that no one is calling me to become an anti-racism activist per se, they are calling me to engage in anti-racism work for myself, as an individual White person. The work of anti racism is not spreading the word and sharing awareness, as I had once assumed (because that’s what I do with disability). The WORK is a personal study of anti-racism, which then means recognizing racism and actively working to dismantle those systems of power that are the root cause of inequity. (Which has also got me thinking about advancing the work of anti-ableism… is this ia thing? Is there a better way to do it?) It is a personal venture that every White person should be actively learning about and working toward regardless of any other activism you are a part of. Of course activism will certainly be a part of it–as there will always be a need to speak up and share–but there is a difference between what I do as a disability activist and as an individual engaging in anti-racism work. This was a light bulb moment for me.

Also, I am more fully aware of the need for me to actively engage in anti-racism work on a consistent basis. Right now that looks like taking courses, reading books, having open discussions with my kids and family, and committing myself and my family to supporting Black owned businesses. As I continue to move forward with this work I am sure this list will fill out and grow.

Police brutality + defunding the police
We are at this point in our country (and world) because we have seen far too many Black people targeted, harassed and killed by police brutality and we have finally hit the breaking point. Which makes the HUNDREDS of videos of police brutality on peaceful protestors who are protesting police brutality, all the more shocking. A young woman forcefully pushed to the ground by a cop walking by and suffering a seizure and concussion (thankfully he’s being charged), a police car driving into a crowd, police beating a man on a bicycle suddenly joined by two other police, 6 cops grabbing two collage kids out of a car and tasing them (again, thankfully they’re being charged), an elderly man being pushed down in SLC, a different elderly man being pushed to the ground with his head bleeding while NO COPS stopped and came to his aid in Buffalo, NY.  And now the President suggests that elderly man being shoved to the ground was a set up. (Will there ever be a low too low for him to go?) Here’s a Twitter thread with over 300 different videos of police brutality toward peaceful protestors across the country during the past week. Clearly, these are not isolated incidents, but rather evidence of a structural problem.

And then, as if that wasn’t bad enough, there is the violence against the media by the police in our own country. Again, countless videos of media being arrested on live TV, being beaten, shot at, gassed after they have identified themselves as members of the press. Of course it is no great shock that when you have a president who constantly calls the free press, a cornerstone of our democracy, “the enemy of the people” you will have law enforcement targeting them. But it is still jarring to see.

And while I support the good men and women in law enforcement who do a tremendously difficult job, it’s clear we have a systemic problem. I went from hearing about the need to reform the police to defunding the police in a matter of days. And while I had never heard about defunding the police, it’s not a new idea. And like many people I had some questions. (No police? What will we do for violent crime? Is this even possible?) But like just about everything from these past couple of weeks, this is going to take more research and reading to understand. I found this overview in the Washington Post helpful, and also I would highly recommend this half hour segment by John Oliver. (Lots of cussing and some violence, so probably not for kids.)

The more I read about it, the better it sounds. Let’s make sure we do our due diligence on this one before we are quick to believe this is an “all or nothing” stance. This is not about getting rid of the police altogether. In fact many people–police included–make the point that the police take on WAY too much already and that sometimes what we need is a mental health expert or a social worker instead, not a person with a badge and a gun, who often escalates a problem just with their presence. Additionally, what most people are arguing for is taking the money that is spent on policing (seems like it’s often one of the most expensive part of city budgets by far–this was news to me) and putting it back into bettering the community through other initiatives.

Camden, New Jersey is a city that completely dismantled the police system and rebuilt it from the ground up to mostly positive praise, with of course people saying there is still room for improvement. This is another article on Camden.

Again, do your research and listen to some opinions of people who study issues around policing. And be careful not to base your opinions solely on memes and Twitter posts. Like this one about Columbus’ city budget that has been widely shared and the AP has fact checked as false and incomplete.

Intersectionality of Disability and BIPOC
I have certainly thought a lot about disability rights, and I have certainly thought about civil rights for People of Color, but admittedly, I don’t often think of them together and the ramifications of what it means to be a disabled Black person or a disabled Person of Color.

This is of course a new journey for me, and one I really can’t speak about much yet, but some of the issues I’ve heard about from my community and from some of the new-to-me disabled + Black people I follow on social media are that it is much harder for People of Color to access resources for their kids who are disabled, than for White families. Also, for Black mothers who have Black sons that are autistic, their fears about the police shooting and killing their sons are heightened since many of these children exhibit erratic behavior, may not be able follow verbal instructions and may not be able to effectively verbally communicate.

A few great Instagram accounts, and people who run the accounts, that are new to me that I’m learning from and following are (clockwise starting at the top left side):
Crutches_and_Spice
MsTatiLee
FatsTimbo
HabenGirma
TripleCripples

Actively searching for literature, art and design by BIPOC
In addition to learning about racism, anti-racism, White supremacy I have learned how important it is to seek out art in various forms from Black people and People of Color, and to support these artists and to incorporate their work into my life (while being aware of cultural appropriation, which I admit I don’t know the boundaries around that at present.) Right before everything happened with George Floyd I had just started listening to Beloved by Toni Morrison. I’m still in the middle of the book, and feel myself expanding as I take it in for the beautiful literary work of art it is, as well as a brutal mirror for America’s history of slavery. Like most people I have long loved Black recording artists anyone from The Shirelles and Marvin Gaye to Lizzo and Beyonce, and Motown was the soundtrack to my childhood as much as any other music. This week I was also introduced to several new designers and artists on Instagram who are also Black women (clockwise starting at the top left):

JtKnoxRoxs
Aliya Wanek
KenyaSaintlot
BriaPaints
Of course it doesn’t really make sense to simply follow a lot of BIPOC if you don’t actually resonate with their message, their work and their platform–it’s patronizing to them and disingenuous to yourself. So follow the people and accounts you intend to actually engage with.

This is a marathon, not a sprint.
My last thought: Like so many White people around the world–my friends I’ve spoken to and other people I follow online–this past week has been like drinking from a fire hose. So much information to listen to, take in, follow and read. Just trying to keep up with the news alone some days is all-consuming. Trying to figure out how to move forward with anti-racism work will also take some time as I continue to do my research, purchase books and courses, listen to podcasts, etc. I am learning to pace myself. It’s easy to come out of the gate with a fire lit under us, but if we try to do too much too fast (which I realize at this point is not fast enough) we will burn out. I know I will. But at the same time, I am committed to be in it for the long haul. I hope you are too.

What have been your thoughts, eye-opening lessons and ideas this week? Anything you’re particularly interested in learning more about? Is there are particular new-to-you person or organization you’ve discovered this week that you’re really excited about? Any major light-bulb moments?