Re: Stay protected And connected during these times
From: Liz Brown (lbrown1250gmail.com)
Date: Thu, 4 Jun 2020 11:11:03 -0700 (PDT)
if you asked such a question to POC, they might politely suggest you MYOB, but 
INSIDE they’d be screaming, Why aren’t YOU?!!!  A better question would be, how 
are you feeling? Not out of curiosity, but out of a desire to support. There 
are many resources on the web and POC are sick and tired of asking us to 
educate them.(title of a recent art show here: “I Am Not Your Mammy)  It’s 
better that we white people do our own work. SURJ is a good place to start

> On Jun 4, 2020, at 2:00 PM, Sharon Villines via Cohousing-L <cohousing-l [at] 
> cohousing.org> wrote:
> 
>> Ironically, our residents of color have not been active in this, and I 
>> hesitate to directly ask them why not. Do you have residents of color, and 
>> if so what if anything do they have to say on the matter?
> 
> We have residents of color but I wouldn’t ask them, or anyone else, why they 
> aren’t participating in demonstrations. I’m a great protester but not a 
> public-demonstrations-in-the-street person. It makes me feel silly. And bored 
> — why am I wasting my time? 
> 
> And at the first threat of violence, I would be gone. I would not be standing 
> there waiting for someone—the police or the rioters—to bash me over the head 
> or knock me down and trample over me. Taking advantage of chaos to steal 
> televisions and burn the small businesses that are the life of the 
> neighborhood is something I would without question jump in to stop—and also 
> be dead quite soon.
> 
> Demonstrations can also turn dangerous—particularly if you are black, or even 
> close to black. Those identified as black are in danger on all sides in an 
> unorganized, heated demonstrations. Even if the occasion is not physically 
> dangerous, as a peaceful demonstrator are putting yourself in the way of 
> every crazy, stupid, angry person who has come out to watch a riot. No riot? 
> Let’s make one. The verbal assault is numbing.
> 
> I have two children. One white and one black. I would not want my black child 
> to participate in a protest against anything. The white one, no fear. In one 
> case I could trust their ability to navigate a difficult situation and in the 
> other, no chance to escape the irrational, extremist behavior.
> 
> There are many ways to protest inequality. Public and private. Marching  and 
> writing. Protesting and teaching. Talking and embodying. 
> 
> The relationship between President Johnson and Dr. Martin Luther King is a 
> good example. They conducted private conversations throughout the Civil 
> Rights Movement of the early 1960s. The person expert in changing legislation 
> using their position of authority in the white community and the revered 
> Christian leader who had equal respect and authority in the black community 
> worked together to bring change. 
> 
> Sharon
> ----
> Sharon Villines
> Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC
> http://www.takomavillage.org
> 
> 
> 
> 
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