What You Can Do *Now*: A Black Veteran’s Perspective on George Floyd

In the wake of the recent killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Aubery, many white friends have asked how they, as individuals, might take practical action in response to these tragedies. I write this open letter as a black military veteran and PhD Candidate who studies the legacy of slavery and racism. The ideas I present below are not definitive, nor do they claim to represent the diversity of black perspectives. Still, I hope they can serve as a starting point for those of us who want to cross racial lines in order to transform our grief and our rage into action that will produce lasting change.

• Use your unique talents, gifts, and connections to intentionally serve people in oppressed groups.
• Think about ways you might encourage friends and relatives to use their talents–and votes–to support people of color and to elect compassionate officials with clear anti-racist policies.
• In your sphere of influence, speak out on behalf of oppressed people and bear witness to their cause–learn their plight, and represent their side to those who may not understand how racism might feel.
• Join, support, or start interracial movements and coalitions. It means more than I can say to see people of all colors across the country and around the world peacefully marching in opposition to racism.
• To undo the knotty legacy of racist policies and practices, we have to get beyond the comfortable lure of neutrality or passivity: we need to get creative and active in thought and deed to cultivate what theologian Gustavo Gutiérrez calls a “preferential option” for people in oppressed groups. Go out of your way to show them kindness at your workplace, in your house of worship, or at the store… Please don’t be afraid to nod and smile–your gesture may be appreciated even if it’s not acknowledged or returned.
• Understand that dealing with racism is exhausting: people of color may not want to talk about it, though you should try to connect with us when you can. (But please, never put us on the spot in a group of any size…we will speak when we’re ready.)
• Black people, like the people comprising any racial group, have different perspectives. Please listen to our stories with empathy, and try to see the world through our kaleidoscopic lenses.
• To develop empathy, you might read books like White Fragility (2018) and then move on to slave narratives like Frederick Douglass’s My Bondage and My Freedom (1855), or Harriet Jacobs’s Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861). Also, check out movies like 12 Years a Slave (2013) and watch documentaries like PBS’s Reconstruction: America After the Civil War (DVD, 2019) and Black in America Since MLK (2016). Keep trying to make connections between what you’re reading and watching to the present moment; take notes and talk about it with people who ask about the “race problem” in America.
• Understand that anger may manifest itself in ways we don’t understand–like through violent riots. Martin Luther King Jr. also struggled with what to do about them… Daily encounters with racism exert persistent pressure on people who feel invisible because their stories are consistently ignored, trivialized, or rationalized away by folks who see George Floyd’s death as statistically insignificant. The greatest display of community support I saw was interracial groups of people cleaning up their cities together after the nightly riots.
• Please don’t overlook or excuse the racism of political leaders who claim to support your own economic, social, or religious commitments–we need to hold them accountable. It’s painful for people of color to endure their casual callousness and verbal abuse.
• Continually seek wisdom, compassion, and courage to respond with empathy during these challenging times.

I hope you find these thoughts useful, and I’m happy to talk more about this or related topics. Open dialogue is the only way to make things better.