Editor’s note: The following was originally published on June 6, 2020.
Dear America,
What happened to us? What’s happening to us? What will become of us? We cannot be helpless empathizers in the destruction of humanity. Our country is calling us to step up, roll up our sleeves and make a difference.
The unrest and uprising throughout America is not happening to “them.” It is happening to “us.” For generations, no one wanted to tackle the dismantling of racism. Now, we all do. Nelson Mandela said, “It always seems impossible, until it’s done.” Let’s do it together.
This is the time to put up or shut up. This is the time when we must have skin in the game. This America, is the tipping, flash and inflection point, where we must act.
We can learn from the past. Participate in the present and influence the future. Here are seven ways to start:
1. Prepare for a better America
The remnants and vestiges of the current America will be taught in history classes, preserved in shadow box frames and ensconced in museums. Future generations will likely mourn our current America of 2017, 2018 and 2019, which has been fraught with polarization, whistle blowing, name calling, tweets, brutality and hatred. We are tired of the vitriol, caustic leadership and unapologetic indecencies and offenses. Our souls cannot relive any version of this again. We crave a better America. We have the collective capacity to build a better America. Each of us must commit that the better America of tomorrow begins with our individual actions — today.
2. Face your racism
Examine and check your impulses, perspectives and implicit biases toward black people and other groups.
3. Become involved in the building process
We need to build relationships with people unlike us. We need to build bridges where there are gaps. We need to build trust with those we have offended.
4. Dismantle all forms of racism
Brick by brick, person to person, generation to generation, begin to take apart and tear down structures of racism such as:
- Dismember and disassociate. Refuse to be a member of anything that discriminates. Does your housing development, golf course or country club exclude blacks? You have enjoyed the luxury of exclusiveness. If your clubs don’t permit black people, then your membership is endorsing a racist structure. Condemn racist jokes, jargon, slang, vernacular, euphemisms and practices.
- Divest. Examine your investment portfolio. If you invest in stock that benefits from the oppression of black people or racial crimes, divest. Sample stocks and products include prisons and endocrine disrupting chemical cosmetics with sodium hydroxide. If your bank engages in predatory lending, change banks. Do not finance, monetize, donate or invest in anything that intentionally targets, exploits, excludes and hurts black people.
- Disrobe racists. Do not allow closet or covert racists to use you as their cover. Don’t harbor or hide them. Don’t let them feel comfortable around you. Rip off their hoods and masks.
- Deprive it. An entity that is starved of essential elements will die. Racism thrives on hatred, oppression, collusion, passivity, indifference and silence. Remove all metaphorical forms of oxygen from racism. Starve racism to death. Deprive it and its hosts from your presence, attention, investments and interests. If a cable or news channel spews racist ideology, do not watch the channel — unsubscribe. If a company has promoted racist ads, don’t buy their products. If the magazines you subscribe to, the retailers and restaurants you frequent do not employ black people, do not patronize them.
- Don’t permit distractions. There are antagonists, infiltrators and saboteurs planted among peaceful protesters, with one purpose — to change the narrative and stop the cause. They fear our solidarity, and they should. The enemy of progress is stagnation, doubt and fear.
5. Host courageous community conversations
This is the precise time to talk to your community about white privilege and how you can leverage it to dismantle racism. You have access to networks, communities and decision-makers blacks cannot reach. Use your privilege to significantly influence change through candid conversations and action plans.
6. Hold candidates and elected officials accountable
Ask every candidate and elected official about their plans to dismantle racism and demonstrate their commitment to diversity and inclusion. (These are two different issues.) Don’t allow them to conflate the two. Don’t settle for rhetoric. If they don’t have plans, don’t contribute to their campaign and don’t vote for them.
7. Stand in solidarity
Leave your home, dawn your mask and march for the cause. Make your presence known.
May the God of our weary years and silent tears bless our weakness with strength, our fear with faith and our ambivalence with intention and steadfastness. May God remove the scales from our eyes, the stone from our heart and racism from America.
Theresa A. Dear is a national board member of the NAACP.