The Past Becomes Our Racist Present
One of my very earliest memories is of going to a movie theater in a small South Carolina town about 1961 or 62, when segregation was still the law of the land. I was visiting from a nearly all-white area near Columbia, and this was new to me.
I immediately noticed that there were two entrances to the theater: one brightly lit and clean, with snacks and drinks, the other dark and dirty, going up a steep staircase. (Being so young, I was confused, but mostly upset that I was denied access to the balcony. Please forgive my five-year old privilege.)
I also remember the drink thrown from the balcony onto the white folks below, and a young man being “escorted’ from the balcony, and wondering why that had happened, seemingly unprovoked. (I suppose I never stopped wondering, perhaps at least until the day Dr. King was killed. That day I learned much about “provocation”.)
Then of course, after the late 60s the focus shifted to the war, then Reagan’s criminalization of poverty, and then more war and even more poverty. There were endless injustices and inequalities to be addressed then, and likely will be forever. So now, when I want nothing more than to take part in racial justice, I am 100% permanently disabled, and have trouble and great pain walking even short distances.
Yes, I have privilege. But what I do not have is denial of my obligation. So, what have I done to perhaps make some small difference? Even though I live in rural South Carolina, I can’t recall having left my home EVER in the past 4 years or more w/o a politically motivated t-shirt. (On Obama’s birthday last week, I wore my “I Miss Obama” shirt to Walmart. Not overwhelmingly endorsed….) Most days now I wear a Black Lives Matter shirt from the Gerry Conway “Skulls for Justice” BLM fundraiser (in which I spent about $700, much as donations, and with all profits going to BLM.) And I distribute BLM face masks, free of charge.
There is always something that can be done, even by the old and broken, and even in times of a pandemic. (I am also writing and addressing 400 postcards by hand to potential swing voters in important states.)
Look for ways to stay busy. You’ll find something, no matter your limitations, and lives will benefit. (Especially your own.) I guarantee it.
