Racial #Oppression: Unravel the Whole Damn Cloth

Image: Hand pulling at a string, unravelling the fringe on a cloth.
Image Credit: Cynthia Levin

As I learn more about systemic oppression and racism, I’m rocked again and again by how deep our problems go in America. Here are just four injustices that are top of mind for me:

1. Black women are three times more likely to die from a pregnancy-related cause than White women

2. Black men are 2.5 times more likely than white men to be killed by police during their lifetime

3. Black homeownership is declining more dramatically than for any other racial or ethnic group in the United States

4. Black history is being minimized or erased in school curriculum

There are many more, but those pop up for me because of my activism in the areas of maternal/child health, housing, gun violence, as well as my mentorship of high school advocates.

Now that I’m in the college application phase of parenthood, standardized testing is on my mind. When I spoke with a friend in academia about how standardized ACT/SAT tests for college essentially prevent students of color from admission to prestigious schools without being accurate predictors of college success, I kind of threw up my hands saying “I don’t even know what to do about that.” She said, “It’s one more thing you can throw on your list of things you advocate about.” Ack. It’s so frustrating how many THINGS there are. I know there is a danger for me and others for the frustration to get overwhelming to the point of inaction.

I’m urging you NOT to succumb to inaction. Don’t become so frustrated about how you can’t solve everything, that you fail to do something. In the words of a tweet by Ursula Wolfe-Rocca a.k.a. @LadyOfSardines, a teacher and organizer in Portland, OR:

"It can be overwhelming to witness/experience/take in all the injustices of the moment; the good news is that *they're all connected.* So if your little corner of work involves pulling at one of the threads, you're helping to unravel the whole damn cloth."

Image: Tweet by Ursula Wolfe-Rocca

These words are incredibly helpful to me.

Print out that tweet and paste it to your bathroom mirror. Use it as a reminder that you’re with me, I’m with you, and together we’ll make things better if we KEEP GOING.