I still exist, too — but not the 2010 version.
This [first?] post will be brief.
I've been thinking a lot about the Karmelo Anthony verdict. It's interesting how you can feel utterly disappointed and yet completely unsurprised at the same time. No Black jurors. Throwing the book at a 19 year-old boy (and celebrating it) when a grown white man would have been told he was naughty and given more of his life to live.
And I've noticed the UUA has been silent. No statement. Not even a weak attempt to try to hold the complexity in a clumsy but well meaning way.
Many Unitarian Universalist churches (mine included) struggle to reach and have people of color in their congregations. They want to know: Where are the POC? We just don't understand why we can't seem to attract them.
I'll tell you why. Not that I, a POC myself, have ever been asked.
You do not make room for Black people.
You do not make room for Black joy.
You do not make room for Black grief.
You do not make room for Black exhaustion.
You do not make room for Black expression.
You do not make room for Black anger.
When you are completely silent about something cutting to the very core of people you say you want to welcome, those people see that. And they feel it.
I saw that someone had their sprinkler system running yesterday, and then a mighty storm blew through. I thought how fitting that was.
Black people are sick and tired of "shows" of solidarity. POC do not want their yards watered. That thunder last night echoed through the sky like the voice of God. That's what POC need to see happen.
The air smells so clean afterward. The perfume of justice in the atmosphere. And all the birds singing praises after justice rains down.
Quit wringing your hands, and make room.
