Who is responsible for answering the question, “What can I do?” In this post, I share my thoughts about what I can do to support racial reconciliation, where we can start, and a few of the resources that have been recommended to me.
Transcript:
Hey everybody. I’ve been thinking a lot during the past month about George Floyd’s tragic murder and so many other murders and tragic events and a history of over 400 years that have have led to this moment in time. This is not a new problem; this is not a new issue.
While I’ve been thinking about this, I thought of an analogy.
If you know your friend is in the hospital, in crisis, extremely ill, do you contact your friend directly by text or phone and ask, “What do you need me to do?”
If yes, then in a way, you’re placing the responsibility on your friend—who is in the hospital—to solve your problem. If you know the person well enough, then you might already know what their family likes to eat, and you can make the meal and drop it off to them. Or, if not, I might contact the family or the circle of friends of the person and say, “Hey, what’s needed right now? How can I support this person?”
Going back to the analogy…
So many people right now are experiencing deep hurt, are in crisis, and feeling profound exhaustion. There’s nothing wrong with the question “What can I do?” In fact, it’s a really good question. But who has the responsibility to answer that question? If I ask the people right now who are in crisis, “What can I do? How can I help?” in a way, I’m placing the responsibility on the people who are already exhausted to help solve my problem. From everything I’ve been reading, watching, and taking in, there is one thing that I can do that seems pretty clear, and that’s self-education.
I can make sure that I know the history and the background of what has been occurring for so many hundreds of years—all of the things that have happened that have led to this moment in time, that have built to where we are now. That’s one thing I can do. From people I know and respect, I see four titles continuing to be recommended and showing up time and time again, and I just want to share them with you. They are where I am personally focusing as a starting place. The first one is a book called White Fragility. The second one is a movie—actually a documentary—called 13th. The third is a resource that is a book called How to Be an Antiracist. The fourth is a movie that is based on a true story. The movie is called Just Mercy. These are just four of lists and lists and an abundance of resources that are easy for us to access that are free and available for us to self-educate. Is reading books and watching movies enough? No. Not even close. But it’s a start.
Black Lives Matter.
And if we don’t do anything because we think it’s not enough, or if we sit and wonder, “What can I do? What can I do?” and we don’t start acting, then we are missing the opportunity to move forward, to take action with self-education. I’m starting with these four that I shared with you, and I hope that sharing these resources is helpful.
This is an ongoing conversation, an ongoing discussion, and an ongoing question of “What can I do?” It doesn’t stop.
Know that I continue to think about you. I wish you continued health and continued safety…and continued strength to sit with that question, “What can I do?”