“Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing.”— John Stuart Mill, 1867
I stay away from politics and other personal stuff in this blog for a reason: it encompasses my waking life so much that I needed an outlet where I knew it wasn’t a point of discussion.
But sometimes silence speaks more. The silence of “my” organization, AERC, to not release an inclusivity statement is meaningful. And I didn’t want to be like that.
I don’t have the right words to say how powerful it has been to watch people rise up against racism. And how small it has made me feel, sheltering at home: the “like” button is not action.
I am a lucky white person. My partner is brown. I’ve seen looks and felt the eyes on us at AERC events as well as other places. Not many, but it is there.
Otherwise I don’t have much experience. But I don’t need the experience to know what is right and wrong in this context. Racism is wrong. Lots of other “isms” too, but those are for another day.
So silence is broken, like this country.
(((❤️❤️❤️)))
ReplyDeleteAERC's lack of a stance makes me furious and I just signed another letter to the board. One of my friends is on the board and she says they're working on releasing a statement, but some of the old republican members of the board are being stubborn about the specific wording, delaying the process and making it an uphill battle for the rest. I hope they get their act together. Here in the northeast, I haven't witnessed racism in ride camp, but I keep hearing awful stories from other regions about ride managers cracking racist jokes during ride meetings, and I'm horrified :(
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen anything outright. Many rides my partner is the only brown person there, I'm uncomforatble FOR him, hope the AERC can get more diverse in many ways.
DeleteI just saw the AERC statement. It is better than nothing, but pretty lackluster, I feel they listened a lot to the naysayers.
Eloquently stated. I hope some positivity comes from this groundswell of energy. It's long past due. Peace.
ReplyDelete