Read on Twitter
1/ For as goofy as social media can be, sometimes a signal comes through an avalanche of noise that is so profound.
In that spirit, I owe a shout-out to @dyanekCS. Don posted a tweet shortly after the horrendous murder of #GeorgeFloyd that resonated with me deeply.. (cont)
In that spirit, I owe a shout-out to @dyanekCS. Don posted a tweet shortly after the horrendous murder of #GeorgeFloyd that resonated with me deeply.. (cont)
2/ Paraphrasing the tweet of @dyanekCS (Don, forgive me for inevitably getting the wording of this wrong), he wrote:
“Everybody needs to stop posting their normal stuff, and start focusing on THIS.”
..(cont)
“Everybody needs to stop posting their normal stuff, and start focusing on THIS.”
..(cont)
3/ But, to the extent I’m remembering his tweet accurately, Don also mentioned this:
“I just don’t know what to do.”
@dyanekCS, like me, is white, with deep Eastern European roots. (We’re both Slovaks.)
This last part was as powerful as the first part of his message.. (cont)
“I just don’t know what to do.”
@dyanekCS, like me, is white, with deep Eastern European roots. (We’re both Slovaks.)
This last part was as powerful as the first part of his message.. (cont)
4/ I name my whiteness, as I do Don’s, because at the moment he sent that message, I felt the same way as a white dude.
But his message, whether or not he knows it, flipped a switch on for me that WILL NOT be switched off. Ever.
But his message, whether or not he knows it, flipped a switch on for me that WILL NOT be switched off. Ever.
5/ See, at that moment, I recall replying to @dyanekCS something akin to:
“Right now, we stop and listen. We listen to every Black person who wishes to share their emotion. We listen to what THEY need, and request. Then, we act”
It was *something* like that.. (cont)
“Right now, we stop and listen. We listen to every Black person who wishes to share their emotion. We listen to what THEY need, and request. Then, we act”
It was *something* like that.. (cont)
6/ And so, in articulating that message to Don, I’ll admit I was really articulating that message to myself in declaring it publicly.
Sometimes I write for others, sometimes I write for me. It helps me hold myself accountable to my core values as they are challenged.. (cont)
Sometimes I write for others, sometimes I write for me. It helps me hold myself accountable to my core values as they are challenged.. (cont)
7/ And though I have done anti-racist work for many years prior, since that moment @dyanekCS put that message out there, I have listened keenly to the words and messages shared by people who are Black. It is their time to speak, and mine to listen, quietly, actively.. (cont)
8/ And so to all who came this far in this thread (especially white men), I have one simple thing I’ve observed:
Many, many people who are Black are calling for **action** amongst those of us who identify as white.
I’m just about done.. (cont)
Many, many people who are Black are calling for **action** amongst those of us who identify as white.
I’m just about done.. (cont)