I want to talk about Burlington yesterday. Specifically, this "As hundreds passed by, two young white men could be seen with spray cans. One, with a black can, wrote the letters “BLM,” an acronym for Black Lives Matter, on the wall of the police station." https://www.vpr.org/post/crowd-confronts-burlington-police-during-protest-george-floyd#stream/0

THIS was the response of the organizers:

"“Do not touch this building!” she [ Zanevia Wilcox] yelled. “You will give them a reason to hit us black people. They will not see you.”

Throughout yesterday's action, there was a deescalation team. The primary purpose was to calm folx (namely white folx) KNOWING who would be harmed if things went south (hint: not white folx).

During the open mic, Harmony Edosomwan repeatedly named that this was a space for Black folx to be heard.

Over & over again she asked non-Black POC & white folx to just LISTEN & still... a white man took the mic.

Yesterday's action was different from others for me in that I was there with several of my former students.

My primary goal was to use my white body in whatever way I needed to ensure a higher level of safety for them.

When a truck blared it's horn & slammed on the gas, tearing through the road as several protestors quickly got out of the way, my mind went to Charlottesville.

All of this was on my mind when I heard a community member say today, "did you hear about the protests? They vandalized the police station"

When asked, guess who this community member said their "they" was?

Harmony Edosomwan & her organizing team did ALL of the things. She KNEW people were watching, she put things in place... yet, here we are.

I guess, my point/ask is that white folx (like me) consider our place & our plan when attending an action.

So, for us white folx:

Do NOT take the mic unless explicitly asked or invited.

Do NOT escalate through actions/words/destruction of property...

DO consider the potential of your white body to deescalate.

DO intervene if you see a white person take the mic at the wrong time/wrong place.

DO intervene if you see a white person escalating.

DO show TF up... AND show up with a plan.

Yesterday my MIDDLE SCHOOL students marched in the street... working to make this world better for all of us.

I'm soooooooo tired of them having to. For all of the reasons.

Sharing with permission & with SO much love for these incredible young people: