Good evening, all~
"What does it matter to some small-town folk in Nebraska who just want to watch football?"
Today I had to explain to a coworker why Kaepernick's protest needed to be covered on every major news channel in every community and locale. At first I was just going to let him talk and then get back to work as I always do when politics comes up in the office (it rarely does), but today something just broke.
I was shaking the whole time, not from anger, but because I've never voiced my concerns to anyone outside my usual circle of friends and family. He seemed shocked as I told him how bad things were and as I shared past experiences my family, friends, and I had with cops in our lifetimes. I explained how I had to worry about my kin and interactions with the police. I explained that it wasn't a matter of ignorance; that there were people out there right now- in my house, even- that thought there was no problem with the way things were. That it wasn't a matter of ignorance or people simply not knowing. I have two degrees, I'm working a white-collar job, cross my t's and dot my i's. I told him this isn't happening to a particular group of us: that it's happening indiscriminately to all of us, everywhere, everyday, and when we try and speak out the vast majority of people who can do anything about it are changing the channel and cancelling their NFL subscriptions and telling us to shut up and be thankful.
I admit I got a tad emotional (voice started creaking, as he mentioned), and he got a tad red in the eyes. I finally shut up and stared at him and shrugged because it was all I had left to do. There was a moment of silence. And then he apologized. He seemed honestly speechless. This isn't a right-leaning dude. He's certainly not someone ranting up and down the aisle about crooked Hillary and emails. He wants healthcare for all and thinks the country is going to implode for the same reasons I do. He goes out of his way to speak with me and share with me and tried to find me a good place in a nice part of the city (his part of the city) to move to- but he was still taken aback by the things I had to say in that moment. He apologized a few times and didn't try to argue my points or bring in his side. He admitted his life just hadn't been one with any sort of heavy exposure to the issues within my community. He said he'd never heard it first-hand, face-to-face, like I'd just spelled it out for him. He said it hit close to home like it never had before (that was how the conversation came up about Kaepernick: his problem with media broadcasting and spamming issues to people far removed from the events themselves). He apologized several times and seemed pretty unsettled.
He asked me what could be done about this. I told him I couldn't do anything about it. He asked me "Then, who can?" I told him, straight up, White people. I told him the only people who can get through to (White) racists are White people. I told him that- once a racist demonized me, made me the other- nothing I or any other Black person did or said would ever change their mind. He agreed.
I dunno. I'd like to think I burst some bubble he didn't even realize was floating around him. I'd like to think that him personally knowing someone that today's issues directly affected would pull him just a bit farther from center than he seems to be. I dunno. I guess I'd like these things to be true because it would mean Ta-Nehisi Coates is ultimately wrong. If all it took to pull the center to our side was a fifteen minute conversation at the end of a work shift, we'd all be a lot better off. But that's pretty naive, isn't it? It isn't this easy, it will not be this easy for a long time, if ever. But I want to stop watching my nephew and nieces grow up and always dreading what could happen to them. I worry things are about to pop off in some major way and they're going to get caught in it. FFS, one of them isn't even old enough to start school yet and the oldest isn't even a teen. They don't have to worry about these things yet, but I know they'll have to soon enough, and that sucks beyond words.
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Totes preaching to the choir. I dunno what's thread-worthy or not.