I was struck particularly, yesterday as I rode the bus to work, by the difficulty of finding something new to say about "Martin's dream and look at us now... no better," etc. And yet it's worth saying every year. Worth it, but it feels fucking futile.
Reports of police murders of unarmed People of Color keep coming and keep being infuriating. And we should keep marching.
Mass shootings keep on happening. And every time we say, "What's it going to take?," and "Something has to be done," and we keep pointing out, and we should, how coverage of White shooters leans toward mental illness and coverage of violence committed by People of Color condemns "terrorists" and "thugs." I'd love to hear someone on the news call for moderate White people to speak out against White supremacist extremists; but we always hear how moderate Muslims need to take a stand. And we should keep being pissed and saying so.
Though it usually doesn't get much new coverage, men perpetrate violence against women at outrageous rates. And actually, not often enough do we make a big ol' deal about that -- which is why this interview about the rape of a woman by a bunch of teens in a playground is so gratifying.
(And I want to be really clear that as a White person, I by no means claim the kind of exhaustion that I might be party to had I not this White body that keeps me safe from the same kinds of danger that I'm railing against. I'm in no danger of being gunned down by a police officer who thinks I'm dangerous just by the look of me. What a privilege.)
I sat on the bus wondering what was the point of it all, and I was struck with remembering the time when one of the apostles is sick and tired of being sick and tired and asks Jesus, "How many times am I supposed to forgive these fools? Seven times?" And Jesus says, "Seven times seventy times." -- Which I have to believe is a Biblical way of saying what I might call "a thousand billion trillion million times." Because it seems like he's saying so many times. And it's 986 people that were killed by the police last year. And that's more than 490.
How many times do we have to notice on Dr. King Day that White (patriarchal, homophobic, capitalist) supremacy has what seems like an impossibly firm hold on our lives? A thousand billion trillion million times.
Reports of police murders of unarmed People of Color keep coming and keep being infuriating. And we should keep marching.
Mass shootings keep on happening. And every time we say, "What's it going to take?," and "Something has to be done," and we keep pointing out, and we should, how coverage of White shooters leans toward mental illness and coverage of violence committed by People of Color condemns "terrorists" and "thugs." I'd love to hear someone on the news call for moderate White people to speak out against White supremacist extremists; but we always hear how moderate Muslims need to take a stand. And we should keep being pissed and saying so.
Though it usually doesn't get much new coverage, men perpetrate violence against women at outrageous rates. And actually, not often enough do we make a big ol' deal about that -- which is why this interview about the rape of a woman by a bunch of teens in a playground is so gratifying.
CNN newscaster: She was drunk, combative, and bit a police officer. What would you say about that?
Badass: I would say that that's typical. That individuals often talk about the woman. We rarely talk about the individuals who actually committed the rape. Those are the individuals we should be focused on right now... We need to focus on those five individuals who committed this heinous crime. And what were the bad decisions that they made all throughout the day? Had they been drinking? Had they been smoking? What would put something in someone's mind to make them think that that was okay?So mundane and so exhausting and then so fucked up for being mundane and exhausting.
(And I want to be really clear that as a White person, I by no means claim the kind of exhaustion that I might be party to had I not this White body that keeps me safe from the same kinds of danger that I'm railing against. I'm in no danger of being gunned down by a police officer who thinks I'm dangerous just by the look of me. What a privilege.)
I sat on the bus wondering what was the point of it all, and I was struck with remembering the time when one of the apostles is sick and tired of being sick and tired and asks Jesus, "How many times am I supposed to forgive these fools? Seven times?" And Jesus says, "Seven times seventy times." -- Which I have to believe is a Biblical way of saying what I might call "a thousand billion trillion million times." Because it seems like he's saying so many times. And it's 986 people that were killed by the police last year. And that's more than 490.
How many times do we have to notice on Dr. King Day that White (patriarchal, homophobic, capitalist) supremacy has what seems like an impossibly firm hold on our lives? A thousand billion trillion million times.
No comments:
Post a Comment