Fighting White Supremacy: Following through

This article has been on my mind for several weeks:

https://greenerpasturesnw.medium.com/eight-minutes-46-seconds-and-365-days-c49a3956b797

It was posted on June 2nd, but acknowledging a year since the death of George Floyd on May 25th, 2020.

Medium contributor, speaker, and local businessman Stephen Green writes about the immediate surge of support, with protests and Facebook profile edits. He then notes that in the year since (longer now), police have killed an additional 229 Black people, and support for Black Lives Matter has decreased while support for law enforcement has increased.

That is discouraging, though not as surprising as one might hope.

In the article, Green also refers to a pledge with over 400 signatories:

https://www.iwilldomore.org/

You have to scroll down for it, but there are also concrete suggestions on things that one can do, and three phases for each suggestion.

For example, first you might start by following new Black people on social media. Do.

Then, since you are following new voices, you can choose to amplify one of them each week. Do more.

Then you could move on from retweeting and posting to suggesting others follow them. Do better.

That is an extreme simplification of one suggestion. Obviously, I want you to read the links, and see what he says in his own words.

I do want to point out some things.

First, notice what a natural progression it is. You have a suggested course of action there, but it is also one that might flow naturally.

Second, it increases your exposure to voices that you might not normally hear. It is very easy for white voices to drown out everything else, and even the nicest white people will miss things about the current state of racism. Increasing the points of view that you take in is important, and easy to neglect. However, I do believe that conscious action here can change you.

(Notice that this specific post is pointing you to someone else.) 

Finally, I want to point out that I didn't use "finally" in listing those steps. Just as these steps can lead to each other (possibly requiring some nudging), as you know more, understand more, and empathize more, there shouldn't be an end. Not until we are all free and equal.

Fighting White Supremacy: Sincerity

I am pretty sick of humanity right now. That is the virus spreading, of course, but not exclusively.

This particular complaint comes from a tweet by Amanda Marcotte, a blogger and writer who is considered liberal, but I would say is more leftist, at least in terms of tendency to criticize more traditional  liberal positions.

This particular tweet was part of a short thread complaining about people who have been vaccinated still wearing masks.

https://twitter.com/AmandaMarcotte/status/1416078552953409544

I have been pretty consistent on this: due to the number of people that are still not vaccinated, allowing more mutation; plus the already present Delta variant; plus as a means of keeping things safer for those working public-facing jobs in a world where there are people who would like to spread the disease as a proof of their defiant conservatism, there are plenty of reasons why masking and social distancing should remain the norm for now. You see all of those disease spikes as people started easing restrictions? Maybe that means it was premature.

Now, is it specifically the vaccinated people not wearing masks who are spreading it? With the Delta variant, that is a real possibility.

In five tweets, Marcotte refers to "mask theater", a way of performing political identity (that she can't relate to, because she prefers concert T-shirts), and accuses it of making the pandemic worse because it politicizes COVID fear as a liberal concern.

It's condescending, and not well-reasoned, but that level of condescension usually is not built on great reasoning. After all, facts can really get in the way of a superiority complex.

Also, I think it might be reasonable to say that conservatives have politicized everything about the virus so much that nothing liberals can do will depoliticize it. The off-chance that being completely reckless will bring them around is too irresponsible even if it were likely to work. It is not.

This is why I assume Marcotte is more of a leftist than a liberal; no matter how bad conservatives get, it is always liberals' fault, and the need to change is on them.

That is irritating, but it's not why I am writing this post. It is the part about "identity performance".

Marcotte got a lot of disagreeing replies (including from me), with people masking for their children, their fragile seniors, and their immune-compromised loved ones. No one appears to be doing it to own the conservatives.

In fact, most of them seem to be motivated by love for those they know, and concern and generosity for those they don't know.

It is more common to use "woke" for an epithet now, but once upon a time it was SJW, for Social Justice Warrior. (I'm sure it still gets used.)

When I first heard the term I didn't think that I could be called a warrior for anything, but how was it an insult that you would fight for justice of any kind? Was it the social part?

In fact, the insult was the assumption that any arguments or actions that people took was to look good. No one sincerely cared about social justice, but people who felt guilty about that would pretend, so the real courage and authenticity was, apparently, proud racism. 

There may also be people who think it's a stupid thing to care about social justice, or at least pointless, but yes, at the time I remember that the arguments mainly impugned the sincerity.

Humans are complicated, and the things we do may have multiple motivations. I still know that I sincerely care about others, and I am not alone in that. 

For as much as I get tired of people, I still know people that I love. I still see people that I do not know being patient or kind or looking tired or trying, and I feel love for them.

I get that there is a certain satisfaction that can come from looking down on the sheeple trying to prove things that you are way too cool to care about, but I want to punch people who find that satisfying. I don't, because I am trying to be better. 

In fact, I am trying to be like Christ. Not with his power to heal, but at least doing what I can to not spread disease.

In fact, if the only way in which you fight for social justice or any kind of human welfare is to score points on those who aren't doing it right, I promise you that you are upholding white supremacy.

Fighting White Supremacy: Praying for it

Recently, in the post on Juneteenth, I suggested that perhaps the best practice we could start is praying to end racism. 

https://preparedspork.blogspot.com/2021/06/fighting-white-supremacy-meaning-of.html

I intended to start doing that in my family, but I found myself stymied by how to word that prayer.

"Please end racism," seemed too broad or too far off.

That may be getting hung up on nothing, but I believe that a lot of prayer's effectiveness comes from us keeping what we are praying for fresh in our minds. We are then open to ideas of things we can do better. We are open to change for ourselves.

"Please help us to not be racist."

That might be the right prayer. It also may not be enough. My family has gotten way better at recognizing and rejecting racism. Homophobia is a little harder, and ableism is not as much on the radar as I would like.

"Please help us to be more wise and loving."

Maybe. I mean, there are injunctions to pray for charity and to seek for wisdom in the scriptures. That might be the issue, except there are so many people who know they need to have charity and are still so comfortable with various types of bigotry. That is one of my primary complaints right now. I just wrote a letter to President Nelson about it.

"Please help us as a church to become less racist."

That might be it. We need it as a country too. We need it as a world. 

That is where I worry that the prayer "Please end racism" is too big. The need to end racism is big, but it feels like it will take many smaller steps.

It might be helpful to pray for schools and teachers now. What we learn of history and literature and culture can be a big part of understanding the world, and there are fragile people fighting tooth and nail for white supremacy at the school level. I am quite sure that losing elections will be only a temporary setback for them, but that is all the more reason that we need to keep it in mind. That is all the more reason to pray.

One thing I frequently find is that when we are moving to a new phase, we are acquiring new vocabulary for it. Finding new ways to understand and communicate is necessary for progress. 

Maybe we have not seriously considered eradicating racism enough to know how to talk about it in ways that don't sound awkward.

I will take the awkwardness over the continuing white supremacy. The awkwardness is the the path of growth; staying with comfortable bigotry can only end in suffering and stagnation.

"Father, please help us to fight racism, within and without."

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Fighting White Supremacy: When it feels like betraying your heritage

Is everyone thoroughly tired of me referring to Critical Race Theory yet?

This isn't really about that, at least not in the sense of what Critical Race Theory really is. If instead we think of the conservative bogeyman of any history that does not center and laud the actions of straight white men, well... I am thinking about the shortcomings of that system on this 4th of July.

(I admit to thinking about it a lot during the rest of the year too.)

I do understand where members may feel reluctant to criticize various aspects of US history. After all, The Book of Mormon clearly refers to Columbus and the Pilgrims, we believe, and shows them as an important part of the restoration of the gospel here. We have many conference talks and Ensign articles about how the Constitution is inspired. 

With that background, it may be uncomfortable to think about Columbus being so zealous in his pursuit of gold that it led to slavery, murder, punitive amputations and genocide, or that one of the earliest Thanksgiving feasts was a celebration of a massacre of Indians, or seeing how the Constitution enshrined racism (which the Supreme Court keeps upholding).

Arguments that the Constitution requires a righteous country works, as long as you will agree that racism is wicked, but racism was also codified in our Church for over a century.

So, how do we reconcile ourselves to this?

I have three thoughts for consideration.

First is that things foretold in prophecy aren't necessarily good. There are things that God makes happen, like having a plan in place, and a savior, and sending that savior into the world. There are also things that perhaps are not wrought by God, but are seen and allowed. 

(There is a whole other reconciliation to be done with agency and that we are allowed to choose evil, which many of us frequently do, but those choices and the path to healing from them is covered in the plan.)

But Nephi said that Columbus was inspired! Yes, well, definitely so was Brigham Young, but there's that racism thing again. It is possible that Columbus was a better man at first, and then the ease of enslaving the Arawak went to his head; it would not be the first time fame and pursuit of wealth has corrupted. We can like our life here and be grateful for that without making Columbus a hero or the colonization of the Americas an unquestioned good. It is imperative that we do, because when we don't acknowledge past wrongs we perpetuate them for the present and future.

(ETA: It seems important to clarify that I do not believe that the ban on Black men holding the priesthood was expired. I do assume that overseeing the exodus to Utah and temple building and many other things required inspiration, and that Brigham Young did get it. I also acknowledge that many other people were fine with the ban being instituted and prolonged.)

It is perhaps worth noting here that "Columbus Day" was not a regular official holiday until the Knights of Columbus lobbied for it in 1934, as a way of getting Italian-Americans more accepted. One of the earlier celebrations in 1892 followed the lynching of 11 Italian immigrants by a mob. In trying to quell one type of prejudice, we reinforced another. Surely we can do better than that.

But we needed a free country for the gospel to be restored!

Yes, and this gets us to the third of the thoughts: is it possible that in a country not built on slavery and genocide, that the gospel wouldn't have required so many martyrs?

Because technically if we had freedom of religion, the early Saints being murdered and jailed shouldn't have been a thing. 

There is a limit to how much good it does to imagine different historical possibilities; what's done is done. 

There is a lot to be gained from honestly assessing where we are now, and how we can do better. 

Loyalty to wrongs glossed over with lies will not allow for that.

Those who follow Christ should never be saying "America, right or wrong!" because we should be too committed to right for that.

Beyond that, I assure you that we can handle that. We don't need to be afraid of uncomfortable truths.

There is a plan, and it is a good plan, and there is room for everyone in it.

Additional reading:

https://rapidcityjournal.com/lifestyles/people/top-5-atrocities-committed-by-christopher-columbus/collection_76ebb2b8-f63d-11e3-a137-001a4bcf887a.html#5

https://tlio.org.uk/1637-pequot-massacre-%E2%80%8Bthe-real-story-of-thanksgiving/ 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbus_Day

Fighting White Supremacy: Elder care

Although I have been thinking about many other topics, it is hard to think about anything but the heat today.

For those not aware, I live in the Portland Oregon Metro region. Right now we are experiencing record heat. The predicted highs for today and tomorrow are 114 and 115, followed by another week in the 90s.

This area is not built for it. The houses are not built for that kind of heat, the local wildlife is not built for it, and the growing homeless population should not have to deal with it. 

I have been thinking about all of that: global warming, the high cost of housing, and economic inequality. I could write about all of those things, and how they relate to white supremacy, but there is this memory that keeps coming back to me.

It was a pretty warm day (though not like today) and I was caring for my mother. She wanted to go "home" -- no longer recognizing home -- and I could not distract her or soothe her. She got really mad, and I eventually had to let her go out the door and just follow her. She was mad at me and was hoping we would encounter a police officer so she could report me, but I just kept following. 

I was worried as she was getting closer to one busy corner, but she started to tire then, and lose her confidence that where she was going was just a little bit further ahead. I let her lean on me for a while. At that point, I was not going to be able to get her back to the house, so we crossed and I went to where I knew we could find a bench, then called my sister to come get us.

Other times when she was insistent on going home, I would take her for a walk "home", hoping it would placate her. One of those times she slipped in gravel. She wasn't hurt, but I had a hard time getting her back up.

As grateful as I am for air conditioning and foods in the fridge that we don't have to cook and clean water to drink, the flash of gratitude that keeps washing over me is gratitude that Mom is safe. She is in a facility with lots of people that she can talk to (which became what she needed; it wasn't always) and with ventilation and with security systems in place where she will not be able to slip out and get lost in this heat.

Another local man with dementia has been missing for over a month now. It seems most likely that he is dead. That may be better to think about than imagining him still wandering in this heat, but it is hard to take comfort in that.

My mother's memory care facility has been great for her, but the only reason she can be there is because when we were trying to get me paid for staying here and watching her, that involved getting her onto Medicaid. 

That process took at least three tries. The first time, I remember the person discouraging me. She implied there wasn't a point, because usually once seniors are eligible for that care, they are always trying to run away and need to be put in a home. Again, that process was absolutely integral to being able to have her in a home, but that was not indicated. I just remember feeling really pessimistic.

The next time, I was sent confusing, awful paperwork that I eventually realized had no instructions for sending it back. When I called to ask about that I was told the application had expired, even though I had not been told there was an expiration date, or when it was.

Eventually, a friend got Aging Services to call me, and the person from Aging Services helped me restart the process. Between her experience and my knowledge from the times I'd been burned before, this time we made it.

I feel fortunate, but it was a fortune that involved going into foreclosure twice, losing all of my savings and retirement, and worsening my debt. 

We were still able to keep her safe. We know many people who are caring for relatives and have to leave them unsupervised at times because of job responsibilities. Sometimes that ends in tragedy, but sometimes it is just successfully navigating a nightmare. That requires dedication, but there is also an element of luck that is beyond your control.

I had thought I might write today about how things that are done to try and run out the homeless in turn make life harder for the elderly, and the disabled, and pregnant women and everyone, really.

All of the things we do to look down on one group affect other groups. That includes making navigation harder for seniors whose minds are intact, but who may still be slower and less agile.

In talking about elder care now, the discussion often focuses on doing things to make in-home care more feasible. That is a real need, but sometimes facilities are necessary too. 

Sometimes there needs to be another person in the home. It is helpful if doing that will not result in the home being lost to the bank. People are more important to things, but if choosing the person means losing everything else, that is a hard bargain to make.

Remember that with white supremacy, everything that we do to reinforce the existing structure will hit the marginalized harder. That multiplies with multiple marginalizations.

At some point the key to overcoming white supremacy is going to have to be that we want everyone doing well, and we that want it more than we want the possibility of becoming individually very rich.

Perhaps it will help to remember that the possibility is slim.

Fighting White Supremacy: The meaning of Juneteenth for the white person

That title is a reference to a speech given by Frederick Douglass on July 5th, 1852.

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4h2927t.html

I think it is a good reminder of the history leading up to the Civil War, but we need to think about the history after it. That includes slave owners sending slaves to Texas to try and preserve ownership, the need of military force in Texas to stop the thoroughly illegal but still continuing slavery, and continued murder and brute force after that.

https://forward.com/opinion/471597/juneteenth-what-really-happened/

Then you have the rise of the KKK, false arrests of the newly freed to make them slaves that way, Jim Crow codes to codify inequality, redlining, white flight, the War on Drugs, Lee Atwater's skill with dog whistles, police brutality and continual -- even at this very moment -- voter suppression.

White people have historically clung to slavery and racism.

That made me a little cynical about the declaration of a new national holiday, except that it makes Opal Lee so happy:

https://variety.com/2021/politics/features/activist-opal-lee-juneteenth-holiday-1234998507/

Symbols can matter, especially as reminders. Our country has a new reminder of its racist past. What are we going to do with it?

(Yes, I know it happened yesterday, but if you didn't commemorate it, it's okay if you do some of these things on other days.)

I have thought about this before, and thought that perhaps the best thing white people could do on Juneteenth was some sort of educational events, but we should also be giving Black people the day off. It's not their job to teach us. I mean, they are teaching us, all the time, but we can take some responsibility for that.

It's certainly not a time to pat ourselves on the back.

Juneteenth might be a good time to watch something educational: thoughts I had for Juneteenth watching included a special on the Tulsa Race Massacre, the "Minty" episode of Underground, or One Night in Miami.

The documentary Slavery By Another Name would also be a very relevant choice:

https://www.pbs.org/tpt/slavery-by-another-name/home/

One precaution to keep in mind is that it is easy to focus on Black pain, reducing Black people to the suffering of slavery. Black joy is important too.

Juneteenth can be used to support Black businesses. A great way to celebrate could be ordering from a Black-owned restaurant:

https://iloveblackfood.com/pdx-directory/

Direct giving is also often a life saver for the recipients. There have been a few Twitter threads with suggestions.

There should be some time for introspection; what have you done to acknowledge your white privilege and look beyond it?

Vote.org suggested taking a moment on Juneteenth to check that your voter registration is still active. That has a practical application, but also is a real reminder of constant efforts to disenfranchise Black voters.

Perhaps this is a good time to consider the Black people in your life. Might they need you to back them up at work? If they needed your support, would they have reason to feel comfortable asking you? Maybe it makes sense to send Juneteeth cards or notes or small gifts. Just don't do it in a way that puts obligation on them.

Possibly I should specify African-American, as we do have Black people (especially immigrants) whose families were not brought here via slavery. I am afraid, though, that they will face many of the same prejudices, and perhaps even more after a generation as they become more assimilated. White supremacy hurts everyone, but there is a logic to focusing specifically on the legacy of slavery for this day.

I know, it's a lot of "coulds" and "maybes", but this is personal. Where you are will have to dictate where you go next.

As always, I do believe that guidance is possible; you can find the most important area for improvement and the most practical path forward for you. I would like to suggest one other possibility, inspired by a conversation with a friend.

We were talking about racism in the church, and she told me about remembering in the 80s when people would pray for the fall of the Iron Curtain all of the time, so that missionaries could go there.

We can go to most countries now, but we aren't bringing our best if we are not engaging with the harmful legacy of racism in our church, and racism and slavery in our country.

So perhaps the best practice you can add to your life is praying for an end to racism. Whether that prayer ends up being more about rooting it out from your own heart and subconscious, or for the toppling of racist structures, making it a regular part of prayer means that you are remembering it, and keeping your heart open to inspiration. 

When you do that, there is always something to do next. Even when it is hard, that is beautiful.

Fighting White Supremacy: Prisoner advocacy

I am getting to this subject now specifically because there is an event this week that some of you may find helpful.

Virtual Event: Protect Prison Mail
Thursday, June 17th, 11AM / 2PM PDT

Registration: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/4416221360531/WN_JUJ3dTEdQN2VaRIx6IRzXA

You may already know that policing functions as a tool of white supremacy, targeting communities of color with increased surveillance and increased violence, and that decisions on prosecution and sentences sought are strongly influenced by race. If you are not aware of that, a good starting point would be reading The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander.

What may be less obvious -- but is completely logical -- is that the system is full of opportunities for more privileged people to exploit the imprisoned for wealth. This webinar focuses on a program to restrict mail access while charging prisoners and those who care about them a lot of money.

Another important thing to know is that the program will be especially harmful to prisoners with disabilities. That should be something to care about anyway, but especially concerning when you know that about 38% of prisoners in the US have a disability of some kind.

There is something interesting to think about there. The percentage of  the US population with a disability is more like 1 in 5, so why does that double once you go inside prison? Does that correlate with any other uneven population distribution in prisons?

I became aware of the webinar through Just Detention International, a human rights group that is focused on ending sexual assault in prison.

https://justdetention.org/ 

Their web site has survivor stories and articles, so would be a perfectly reasonable place to start for learning more on this issue. 

Another organization I like is the Equal Justice Initiative:

https://eji.org/

Their work is featured in Bryan Stevenson's book, and the movie based on it, Just Mercy (both recommended). There is a part in the book where Stevenson is talking to the church congregation of one of his clients. Many of them were at the same event when the crime happened, along with the client. They knew he didn't do it, and yet it didn't matter. 

It is one thing to know that this country's policing and penal system is racist; it is another to understand the effect that has even on those who aren't incarcerated. They try so hard to be careful and safe and above reproach, and then see that it is not enough.

We need to be aware of the cost.

Although injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere, it does make sense to be aware of local issues. One to consider is to going back and re-examining unconstitutional non-unanimous jury verdicts:

https://www.opb.org/article/2021/05/18/oregon-attorney-general-ellen-rosenblum-non-unanimous-juries-scotus-rulings/ 

You can watch a short video about this at https://fb.watch/66g_bePRuT/.

It is easy to take a conviction as reason to look down on someone and not worry about their rights. The advantage of that is that it goes along with faith in the system. The more we learn that this faith is misplaced, the more important it is to take actions.

There is a lot of room to contribute. 

One last note: I have specifically not mentioned prison abolition. That is its own complicated topic, and would often be considered with restorative justice, also complicated.

I think restorative justice has potential, but many advocates for it end up still falling into regular hierarchies of power where redeeming the victimizer becomes more important than aiding the victim. It doesn't have to be that way, but it's something to watch out for. 

Those concerns take nothing away from the organizations and causes mentioned in this post. They also do not have to rule out collaboration between groups who have overlapping goals, even when those goals are not a total match.

Find your way to make a difference.