ISSUE #38
Photo by Andrew Wallner: @and_rew_and_you
It’s Juneteenth,
the anniversary of the end of slavery in the United States. It has been 155 years since a Union army general announced the federal orders in Texas, and yet here we are, still oppressing Black people - consciously, unconsciously, systematically, violently, fatally.
Many people who have been peacefully ignoring the truth for their entire lives are now getting involved in marches, protests and funding campaigns, and an older generation who marched for the same cause are cautiously considering hope.
Over the last 3 weeks, protestors across the country, in every single state, have pressured our lawmakers into many changes that we should use to fuel our fire: a promise to dismantle the police in Minneapolis, a movement to cut the LAPD budget significantly, a bill making public the records of violent and problematic police officers. Be inspired but not appeased - these are the first, wobbly baby steps in a long marathon we must all run together.
So find an event,
bring an open mind and a body willing to stand against hate and violence. The future cannot break from the past without your continued work in examining your embedded racist tendencies and those that you have lived with your entire life. Our society is inherently racist and must be broken before it can be fixed - protest is the tool that will get us there.
I’ve given you some songs to listen carefully to, to march to, to change yourself to. Play them loud, stand tall as your take a stand, and know that you are doing a good thing.
Know also that there are many, many more good things that need doing before there can be justice, peace or equality.
