I haven’t written in a while because life has been challenging. All of my time has been spent trying to find a new place for my brain injured brother to live. This, in itself, is challenging. But Covid has made it unbelievably moreso. I have had to move him without being able to tour potential places. This is disturbing at best… And a lot to process.
So, because of the weight of the last couple of weeks, I wasn’t going to write about the events of January 6 or the mess that our country is in. I wasn’t going to write about it because I was angry.
But then I read a post by a long time Blogger and friend, Ra Avis. You should read it too here ….It is both eloquent and gut wrenching. And frankly, it made me analyze my anger.
I have lived my life, my entire life, as someone with a physical disability…So I have experienced discrimination and marginalization and invisibility comingled with stigma! But I have been fortunate to not have experienced much in the way of fear of personal attack because of my disability. That is a piece of discrimination that has not been part of my experience.
And then I read Ra’s piece. Because she is so gifted and so eloquent, she brought me into her experience. She deftly shared her fear and her pain and her trauma related to the riots in Washington … I was truly humbled. And I consider her a friend… So feeling her pain truly made my heart hurt for her.
And that’s when I realized that my anger was part of my privilege. I’m white. I’m also half Jewish but I only learned that a couple of years ago. So I haven’t experienced racism, anti-Semitism, or feared for my safety because of my color or ethnicity.
So as I watched the events unfold during the riots, certainly I was concerned for our country. But it was not triggering for me personally because I didn’t have those old wounds. I could go right to anger because of my privilege. I have been rolling this around in my brain all day… Anger, in this scenario, is privilege… Anger is my privilege because of my skin color!
And that realization has made me sick and sad and disgusted. My friend is traumatized. And I have the privilege of just being pissed.
We can and should and must do better than this. None of us is free unless we are all free. None of us is safe unless we are all safe. None of us are truly living our lives peacefully unless we are all able to live our lives in peace.
White privilege is real. Discrimination is real. Systemic racism is real. And we can’t eradicate these illnesses until we acknowledge them as real.
So I urge everyone to look within and look without and do what you can do to clean up your own corner of the world. Where and how can each of us as individuals support social justice and change? We can’t be so passive about this. We have to look for it and actively clean it up. We have to call it out when we see it and we have to demand better.
Our friends and family and neighbors of color should not feel fear because of who they are. I say this for myself and for my ancestors who faced anti-Semitism. I say this for my friend who is dealing with post traumatic trauma. I say this for my dear friend’s daughter who is from Central America and faces racism in our very white community.
None of us can heal until we heal our own willful blindness to the realities of racism and privilege…. and then do everything we can to eradicate the source of these diseases.
We have to do better… we owe it to our children, and we owe it to future generations! Please join me… We need all hands on deck!
I’m glad you’re here💜
With Angels and Elephants 
Nice blog
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Thanks for visiting 💜🙏💜
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I’m sending you much light to deal with all the brother related stuff. I can’t even process how difficult that must be. Thank you for this post, and your anger– because I can’t muster it even still, even yet. Love you. ❤
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Thank you for your love and light. I’m absorbing it and sharing It with you, with interest. Know that I’m walking with you as we call on everyone’s better Angels to help move this world toward peace! Love you too dear soul sister! 💜
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Pingback: If we were having coffee…1/16/21 – With Angels and Elephants
First time here, found you at Coffee Share.
White privilege is real.
A friend once made a comment about someone’s accent as an immigrant. I said I am an immigrant and she said “oh that’s different”….
I was born in Ireland and my parents immigrated to Canada. I AM an immigrant but am lucky that i was born with white skin and from a country that speaks English.
It gets my hackles up when people say I’m not really an immigrant.
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Hello! Wonderful to meet you!
We have such a long way to go….But every time we shine a light on discrimination and privilege, we help to heal those diseased roots of hate. I still believe in humanity…kindness should be our first reaction…not an afterthought!
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I hope to see you again 💜
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Jackie I’ve tried to comment on your blog twice and it doesn’t seem to be working. Not sure what I’m doing wrong….Sorry 💜
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This past week has been a sad commentary on how we wear blinders to see what we want to see without questioning our leaders or demanding truth and justice from them. I am saddened to see gullible people are so easily manipulated and when I see Congressmen who are only concerned about getting reelected and the power they will have. .
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Hi Bev!
I join you in your sadness. We’ve sunk to a new and disturbing low. I hope we can regain our moral compass as a nation.
Thanks for visiting 💜
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I hope you can figure out a solution for your brother! I totally don’t understand those people who do not realize racism is real. If people who are being treated in a racist way, who fear for their lives in many situations, say they are the victims of racism I can’t fathom not believing them! But so many don’t believe them. And that is the problem. Anyway, it is an important topic, one that needs to be a topic of conversation in this country until people get it.
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Thank you for your kindness! Yes, my brother’s situation has been stressful. On top of the Covid complications, I only had a week to move him!
I think one of our biggest challenges is that people are willfully ignorant. And I think they’re willfully ignorant because, admitting that there’s a problem would require some work and internal review….and most people don’t want to do that! I think we all have to keep believing in each other and believing in our collective ability to do better!
Thanks so much for visiting. Wishing you a lovely week ahead!😊
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I agree, a lot of the problems is that people need to look at themselves and understand they are part of the problem before they can become part of the solution. It is hard to be white in America and not have some racism in there, and harder still to admit it.
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