“When we talk about injustice, the conversation always comes back to: What do we do? How do we move…”
“
When we talk about injustice, the conversation always comes back to: What do we do? How do we move forward? How do we create change?
I don’t have answers to these questions. I don’t think anyone does, but there are actions that would accomplish more than offering an apology to those who cannot provide you with the absolution you seek.
When you hear, “black lives matter,” don’t instinctively respond that all lives matter, as if one statement negates the other. Instead, try to understand why people of color might be compelled to remind the world that their lives have value.
When others share their reality, don’t immediately dismiss them because their reality is dissimilar to yours, or because their reality makes you uncomfortable and forces you to see things you prefer to ignore.
Avoid creating a hierarchy of human suffering as if compassion were a finite resource. Don’t assume that if one person says, “These are the ways I am marginalized,” they are suggesting you know nothing of pain and want.
”
–
Of Lions and Men: Mourning Samuel DuBose and Cecil the Lion – The New York Times; by
Roxane Gay
