I’ve been fairly quiet on twitter these last few days. I’ve posted my share of retweets to the mix and have added next to nothing of my own commentary.
The bulk of the tweets in my feed are tagged #BlackLivesMatter, #Notthistime, #EricGarner, #ICantbreathe, #NotjustFerguson or #Ferguson. There is outrage, disbelief, comparative analysis, related storytelling, protest coverage. Images and video offer snapshots of the movement in progress. Real life episodes of micro and macro aggressions are shared through the hashtag #alivewhileblack. The educhatter is still going on and it feels muted, like it’s just not quite important enough to merit the same kind of attention.
So I invest in reading. I read op-eds from top journalists Charles Blow and Ta-Nehisi Coates, I study the retweet offerings of @funnymonkey, @tressiemc, @mdawriter and Jason @jybuell. I find information on everything from how Grand Juries work (or don’t work) to advice on how to address these burning topics with students to reasons why America finds itself in this pitiful state, still so deeply divided along racial lines.
At the end of the day, there is little tangible relief. The barbed comments that appear in response to a well argued opinion piece remind me that online media are not safe for everyone. The video clips of protesters clashing with police remind me that police use of force is widely understood as a means of keeping the peace. How I feel about all this is not the point. The devastation that lingers and touches every aspect of American society is.
The devastation that lingers is not of our property. The devastation that lingers is in our heads and hearts and it is painful. When we need to claim that indeed #BlackLivesMatter, the devastation is already visible and how deeply it runs becomes increasingly apparent. We keep saying it over and over, #BlackLivesMatter because the devastation that lingers is evidence to the contrary.
My spirit is so much more inclined towards optimism and thinking positively.
Yet in order to even contemplate where I will start to act and begin to counteract even a sliver of the devastation, I must see it first for what it is: pervasive, pernicious and enduring.
edifiedlistener 