A Time for Hope
These times that we live in are markedly a time for Hope.
The failure of grand juries in New York (New York, USA) and Missouri (USA) has served to highlight the continuing injustice provoked by racism in the United States.1 Media attention to the treatment of people of the global majority, with a focus on immigration and the killing of Black men, has served to heighten the consciousness of many people of every race of their intention and desire to live in a society free of racism, a society characterized by justice, a society that works well for everyone.
Rather than being pulled to despair by the failure to indict, we get to remember that we still have a tool with which to heal the hurts of racism. This is a particularly good time to share this tool with other people. White people in particular want to be listened to about race and racism. Black people in particular want to be listened to about race and racism. People of every group want and deserve to be listened to about race and racism, about their individual history and the history of their group related to race and racism.
All of us get to discharge the hurts that keep us from noticing that we are in better shape2 today than we have ever been in this country on the issue of race. I will not stack up the evidence to support this claim here. I encourage each of us to discharge what gets in the way of our own ability to notice the truth of this.
We have many reasons to be hopeful at this particular time in our history as a people. We each get to discharge whatever gets in the way of noticing this and being hopeful today.
Barbara Love
International Liberation Reference
Person for African-Heritage People
Amherst, Massachusetts, USA
1 The two grand juries were convened to address the killings by white police officers of two unarmed Black men—Michael Brown, in Ferguson, Missouri, and Eric Garner, in Staten Island, New York—and both failed to indict the officers.
2 “Shape” means condition.