Earlier today, before news about the verdict dropped, I read this piece about an amazing archeological find: the childhood cabin of Harriet Tubman. I thought about the Underground Railroad, how Tubman was by all accounts a hated lawbreaker in her day. https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2021/04/20/harriet-tubman-maryland-home-found/

Tubman never waivered in her commitment to standing up against the evil of human slavery.

She had little, but she knew how to read the wilderness, how to read the sky, the wind, the sun and the stars.

She used what was given to her to speak truth to power, fighting white supremacy without writing a single op-ed, filing a case, or firing off a tweet.

One hundred fifty years and some hours later, another group of people spoke truth to power, fighting white supremacy as well.

Predictably, the vanguards of that noxious old world order began foaming at the mouth, calling for another Civil War, secession, and declaring death to the Constitution itself.

I was talking to a friend right before fast broke, and was reflecting on how that old order permeated through the extant papers of John Tanton, whose papers I am suing to unseal, and upon which so much of our immigration law is based.

That races are hierarchies, that diversity means replacement, and that immigration is invasive.

It shouldn't have taken George Floyd's death on video and a worldwide movement to get a guilty verdict, but every journey starts with a single step.

What's most important is that the second, third, fourth steps and beyond are taken.

Listening to the Floyd brothers today was a confirmation that most of us do not want that old order, that most of us will do what's necessary to relegate that system into the dustbin of history.

We'll elect leaders who will hold the agents of that system accountable. We'll march the streets, stand for our brothers and sisters, shine the disinfecting sunlight on the decrepit structure of tyranny and oppression, and we won't let up.

White supremacy - whether wielded by the knee of a cop, tweeted from the White House, driving a car through protestors, or firing bullets into a church - needs to end with an unceremonial bang.

I found myself once again thinking about my grandfather in pre-Partition India, how the British raj jailed him on multiple occasions for daring challenge their order. He rode his bicycle through the streets of Sagar with a yellow vote box making sure every citizen voted.

He, too, used the gift of oration - fasl-al-khitab - given to him in service of humanity.
We all can draw not only lessons, but strength, purpose, and direction from history. The Chauvin #verdict is a turning point, but it's not the end of the road.

If today's theme is accountability as a stepping stone to justice, I hope you'll use whatever gifts you were given in service to that higher purpose.

Talk to your children and parents and family.
Support a business outside your insular community.
Smile, for a smile (even under a mask) is charity.
Slow down and listen.
Spend a minute before getting out of bed in the morning with the intention of doing one selfless act.

Be it dropping a bill to a homeless person, picking up a piece of litter, saying "yes" to the prompt at the grocery store asking you to donate a buck, learning a greeting in a language you don't speak, reading a piece from an author of color...

...calling your Congressman or state elected official, make a dish from another country, connect with an old friend, volunteer somewhere.

Use what you have to make sure you can tell your grandchildren that you knew it wasn't the end of the road.

#JusticeForGeorgeFloyd
#EndWhiteSupremacy