This post is not about knitting or crafting. I have a shawl that I have been working on and the numbers came out wrong a few times before I got it going. I will be focusing on it for the next three weeks after this post.
Bright Blessings
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I have been trying to figure out what to say. I don't understand where all this hate comes from against people who aren't you. Without differences, the world would be bland and boring. This country is made up of people from all over the world, a melting pot of cultures. It seems that some people want to decide who gets to be a part of that pot and that isn't what this country is supposed to be about.
I want to be there for everyone being attacked by hate and racism. I have been sending reiki and gathering them into my heart and holding them close. I know that is not enough.
I read a way that I can help is to listen to others without trying to identify with them, because I can't. I can't even begin to understand what they are going through now and have gone through in the past. I can say, "I see you, and I accept you. I hope you do the same for me."
So what can you do?
Listen, learn, don't try and dominate the conversation when someone is talking about their experiences. Don't try and say you understand because you don't. Even if you grew up in poverty and struggled every moment of your life you still can't empathize with someone who is judged for the color of their skin, their nationality or their sexual orientation. You can't understand someone who is called out for just being who they are.
Here is a great resource for Talking About Race from the Smithsonian.
I just have to stop for a moment to send light and love to everyone facing hate or racism, it just makes me tear up to even think about facing that burden every day.
🙏🙏💖💖🙏🙏
Use your privilege to spread their experience without telling them yourself, share, literature, art, and businesses. Show your love in likes and reshares, positive comments. Promote positivity in the community.
Here is a link to the Justice for George Floyd on change.org, as of this writing they had over 15,000,000 million supporters. Here is the link for Justice for Breonna Taylor, as of this writing they had over 3,000,000 supporters. Adding your voice to a group of voices only makes them stronger.
If you see or hear racist remarks, don't let it slide. Speak up against the remark. This is your moment when you can show support against racism, even though this may put you out of your comfort zone.
Share what you've learned. This world will only change if we change as a whole.
Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Hate, it has caused a lot of problems in the world, but has not solved one yet.― Maya Angelou
Hate does that. Burns off everything but itself, so whatever your grievance is, your face looks just like your enemy's.― Toni Morrison
I imagine one of the reasons people cling to their hates so stubbornly is because they sense, once hate is gone, they will be forced to deal with pain.―James Baldwin
Also...because we are still in a pandemic...
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Safe socially-distanced hugs 🤗
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Sending love and light to everyone being affected by this virus.
May you be safe.
May your loved ones be safe.
🙏
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2 comments:
I'm glad you've used your position as a content creator to amplify this issue. It's taken me a while to have anything even remotely coherent to say. One quote that really hit me hard was this:
"Most white people believe that a racist is: one, an individual, two, one who holds conscious and aware dislike of people based on race, and three, intentionally seeks to be mean to them. Individual, conscious, intentional. And by that definition, virtually all white people are exempt from racism. We do not understand that this is a system that is infused across all institutions, traditions, politics, practices, language, norms. It is the system we are all in and none of us could be exempt from its forces. What white people need to do is start from the premise that you have been shaped by the forces of racism." -- Dr. Robin Diangelo
I feel very helpless in the face of such inequity. I'd love to be out there protesting, but heck, my back starts hurting just puttering around the kitchen for five minutes, and I'm too much at risk for COVID-19. I don't have a content platform to amplify the voices of POC, or very many people to have those conversations with. My sleep problems would make me a very unreliable volunteer. I've donated what little I can, but I don't feel like throwing money at this kind of deeply entrenched social injustice is enough.
What I can do, though, and almost for free, is educate myself. So I'm going to try to do something -- watch a documentary, read a blog entry or a book chapter, just -something-, every day, starting with the reading list here: https://tinyurl.com/ya3rrzxb I'm gong to try to get to the bottom of the ways in which the society in which I was raised has indoctrinated me with racism in ways I didn't recognize or consent to, and do my best to be better. In the meantime, I'm going to try to stay informed.
And in November, I'm going to make sure to vote.
--Rue
Thank you, first of all for sharing your thoughts with me. Second, thank you for reposting that amazing quote. I've been thinking about those words a lot over the past few days.
I wanted to share this quote with you because even in this terrible dark time for our black neighbors and friends, I have hope that the actions that follow these horrible crimes of hate, will be the turning point where things begin to change and our society is rebuilt with equity and equality as a whole.
“Ignorance and prejudice are the handmaidens of propaganda. Our mission, therefore, is to confront ignorance with knowledge, bigotry with tolerance, and isolation with the outstretched hand of generosity. Racism can, will, and must be defeated.”
― Kofi Annan
I feel that you summed up how I feel as well by saying, "I'm going to try to get to the bottom of the ways in which the society in which I was raised has indoctrinated me with racism in ways I didn't recognize or consent to, and do my best to be better."
And, yes, in November I will also be sure to vote.
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