If I was prone to melodrama, I might say our country has been barreling toward this moment of reckoning since the United States was founded on democracy for some but not all, equal rights for few, but not many was codified. I might say that, but in a way that also cheapens and lessens the many, many voices, and lives, that have spoken out and risen up to challenge at every step of the way as the systematic injustice and oppression were built into every foundation. In this maelstrom of injustice, people are losing their lives. People are fighting to be heard.
And here I am, in a rural part of the country since the COVID-19 pandemic began to surge. When I linger on my privilege, it is to ensure I am putting in the work on my own life. My own misconceptions. When I look to what I can do, I’ve focused on donations to organizations who have been fighting this fight for a long time. When I wrestle with how and where to speak, I do so wanting to ensure my voice is not becoming louder then BIPOC community.
Yet it is also true that staying silent on any platform available may be seen as complicit, as not actually making a stand, as waiting for it all to go back to “normal.” It is also true that this fight is not only for those of the BIPOC community. Injustice, discrimination, is a threat to us all. It impacts everyone.
To combat that this post now exists to stay firmly the views of this writer, which is black lives matter.
I will never understand, but I am trying to show up in the all the ways I can.
Respectfully,
Olivia