Minneapolis, George Floyd–#GeorgeFloyd #BlackLivesMatter

How much I have written for this post and discarded. Feelings swell, crests of thought in one direction, then the next, another. I believe in nonviolence. I believe in taking the lead from people of color, whose experiences in these matters are the important ones to hear and to uplift. Ordinarily, these two beliefs I hold to side by side, but this week, here, they have come to blows.

On Monday in the city where I grew up occurred the horrifying killing of George Floyd. In the long lines of deaths of African Americans by police brutality–the image of Floyd on the asphalt, the knee at his neck, the anguished face, I am sickened, and the city and the country are erupting now. Buildings burn, marchers chant righteous anger, riot response, the growing awareness of the shameful racial disparities in my state.

On social media, I see people justifying violence. Some are written by people that I know. Officials say those arrested are not locals, then other sources dispute this. Some say groups with goals other than the dismantling of oppressive systems are responsible, and others call red herrings. Far away, I don’t know what is real or not, and who really can know in these moments, although so many voices clamor in my feeds, and the pit in my chest grows.

It becomes rapidly paralysis, a furious desire to avoid conflict, and though this might sometimes be a strength, it quickly turns complicity. I read and watch, discern and think and talk, I write, but I must not hide in that discernment from the world’s great needs.

I am far away and can do little physically. I can donate money. My friend Tyler has been planting New City Church in Minneapolis during the last years. I don’t identify as Christian, but the work he and his community do for racial, environmental, and queer justice movements–I am continually humbled, and I trust them here implicitly. I’m donating to their Solidarity Fund. I’m in the process of researching other organizations too.

To lift up voices, to listen, here are some people and organizations I have found, that I’ll listen to. The list is small. If you have others I should add, please share them.

• Kaitlin Smith at the blog Facing Today shares resources for processing the tragedy and learning about its historical roots.
• Black Lives Matter has started a series of videos called What Matters, where a variety of African-American people talk about perspectives on current events.
• This short press release by Congressman John Lewis from Georgia. He talks about listening to the grievances of the community that extend across time and his belief in nonviolence.
• Organizations like Black Visions Collective and Reclaim the Block in Minneapolis are talking about the abolition of police forces. This is something… I feel a lot of initial skepticism about, but I also recognize my perspective in that skepticism as a white person who generally benefits from police presence, while others often do not. I’m not ready to say I support this movement, but I’m ready to listen.

Hundreds of years ago, this same struggle was beginning, and here it continues, on and on, bigger than any of us, yet in another way, it exists because each of us exist. It is impossible to live in this society without perpetuating racism, just as we cannot live in this society without emitting greenhouse gases. The effort to do different must be collective and sustained, and I am involved, as you. We must actually listen, and we have to act.

With love,
Jimmy