Tag Archives: Black Lives Matter

Looking for hope

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I want to acknowledge the pain and suffering of the family of Jacob Blake and the whole Kenosha community. When I originally planned this post last week, I was desperately looking for hope and joy and the positive. Yet right now outrage is the only appropriate emotion, faced with another unthinkable tragedy, another black man shot down reprehensibly by a police officer. But even rage feels reductive. Enough is enough an empty refrain. And yet, where do we go from here?

I applaud the Milwaukee Bucks for using their power and privilege to say no more. For all the NBA, WNBA, players and owners and coaches, as well as soccer and baseball teams, boycotting their games in solidarity, this is indeed a strong compelling statement. We have to stand together to end racism and the evils associated with this corrupt system at the core of our divisive nation.

At the same time we have to look for signs of hope, to reach out to each other, to unite as a country. Last Saturday, in a desperate attempt to find something to lift us up, we drove around town, and a bit further, and found many such signs, planted in yards everywhere… Right now hope does seem lost, but it’s not. It’s right there waiting for us to dig it out, to rise up and demand it, to breathe it back into our lives.

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Say Their Names

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Say their names as you scramble your eggs, as you walk to grab your coffee, as you start your work day. Say their names when you hug your mom or your son or your neighbor or your uncle. Say their names as you end your day in bed with your partner. Say their name when you start your car or brush your teeth. When you say your prayers say their names. When you preach. When you teach. When you dance. Or cry. Or talk to your grandmother. Or the cop who pulls you over. Just keep saying their names until this ends and even then chant them out loud. Burn your incense, light your candles, and say their names.

As we let those names linger in our air, let us also remember that, “Since Jan. 1, 2015, 1,252 black people have been shot and killed by police, according to The Washington Post’s database tracking police shootings; that doesn’t even include those who died in police custody or were killed using other methods” (A Decade of Watching Black People Die).

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