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." #stream/0">https://www.vpr.org/post/crowd-confronts-burlington-police-during-protest-george-floyd #stream/0">https://www.vpr.org/post/crow...
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& #39;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& #39;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& #39;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& #39;m soooooooo tired of them having to. For all of the reasons.
Sharing with permission & with SO much love for these incredible young people:
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