I watched a movie last night with two friends using Netflix Party. We ended up watching See You Yesterday, which was pretty good. It was also pretty heavy.
Police violence
There are at least two scenes of police violence, one more graphic than the other. In the more graphic scene, a cop is restraining a Black teen with their knee on his neck.
At this point, one of my friends is freaking out about how the movie was filmed prior to the murder of George Floyd, about how the cops were first demanding ID for now reason (āis that even legal?ā), etc.
We had a long discussion about how aggressive/violent restraining tactics (knee on back/neck, dog piling, chokeholds) are commonplace in police interactions with Black people.
I think this was an incredibly important film and conversation to have had with the one friend. Sheās been very sheltered by her privilege in her experiences, and assumes white innocence in almost all scenarios. Her heart is in the right place, but she just doesnāt know the realities of what other peopleās lives are like (including those of her friends who grew up without wealth).
Our after-movie discussion moved to Signal, where we talked about how to respond if we witness police violence, about affinity groups, about self defense, about practicing motions and practicing words so weāre ready when it comes to a live scenario.
While itās important to educate ourselves through reading and watching documentaries about the realities of racism and the systems that uphold it, sometimes it can be more impactful to witness stories that show the realities outside of the context of statistics and history.
UPDATE on donating to local Black state representativeās re-election. I never heard back so searched again. His campaign FB page is now gone (or made private). So I sent and email to his legislative email. Still no answer. I found him on ActBlue - but I cannot tell if he initiated that connection, or I ActBlue did it. I am stymied!
Does your state have Clean Elections? If heās running that way I think it limits the amount of donations he can take.
Or maybe (Iām assuming heās a democrat) thereās a state democratic fund that heās a part of?
Those are my suggestions based on my state, but also every time I email my rep and senator they get back to me with a personal email (so nerve wracking) so the fact that he hasnāt emailed or facebooked you back might be the end of the things you can try.
There are phone numbers - but I hate making phone callsā¦ but I should try. I emailed right after the legislature session ended. I am sure he is busy.
And to my local public radio - they lost all the funding they got from the regents universities - so $875K is - poof, gone! As a sign of the times, I selected a fabric face mask as my āthank youā gift. Weirdā¦
Actually Iāve found that email is better if I actually want a response, although that probably depends heavily on the state. If his staffers arenāt checking the Facebook page then they probably arenāt answering the phone?
Good luck though! The more local government gets the more accessible and inaccessible it gets at the same time.
I donāt even know if he has staffers! He has been re-elected several times. I donāt know what is typical at the state level. I should check on a couple of the other state politicians.
In Maine I think sometimes they have interns if theyāre lucky. In NY they have full offices with multiple full time people who actually answer the phone. I think it depends heavily on how big your state is and how professionalized the legislature is!
The republicans are the money bag party here, they may have more staff. Not sure how staff are paid. The rep in question is from a district in the largest city (state capital), but that also makes him local to workā¦
And realizing I never got around to updating on this thread either. Got through the primary candidates for my state and sent in the ballotā¦I wish there was someone I was excited about in the lot but unfortunately while there are one or two who look marginally better than others on paper, theyāre all generally too busy running attack ads to spend time explaining what they actually want to do and how they plan to accomplish it. Hoping that will stop after the primaries. Also made it back through the microagressions training course at work (had taken it before several years ago, but definitely still relevant) and am signed up for another type of diversity training next month that will hopefully happen but needs a few more heads to fund. And found a bit more money to throw at the problem.
I went to a micro aggressions seminar - so insidious but very effective. You know something is going on, but if you can even articulate what it is, it sounds incredibly whiny and petty.
Participated with the majority of a 2-hour-long workshop yesterday, it was unfortunately cut about 30 minutes short for me due to internet problems and then sleepiness.
The workshop was titled āWhite Listening Workshop,ā and was primarily made up of white folks from various state agencies, some non-Black folks of color, a handful of Black folks, too. There was a lot of good materials provided, and discussions questions.
Non-white folks had the option to be in a breakout group that specifically excluded white people, and Iām glad that was made available. There were so many people at so many different parts of their anti-racism journeys that it would be incredibly taxing on POC to be exposed to the discussions being had.
Some discussion prompts:
What are your biggest fears when talking about racism?
What stereotypes and behaviors [from this list] do you notice within yourself?
What is holding you back from having these conversations?
It can be hard for me to engage in these discussions sometimes. I notice that I feel superior in some ways because some things being said by others are hurtful, immature, or āwrong.ā
Iāve been working really hard to address this whenever I have these internal reactions. I am not an expert, I am always learning, and I have done my fair share of harm in my ignorance. Itās my job to keep learning and to help other people learn. Itās more important to exercise patience and work through these things with other people, rather than feeling smug and shutting down conversations unintentionally.
Some baby steps here:
-End of June I finished a multi-day anti-racism seminar, which was extremely helpful
-Joined a committee at my grad school institution to make the curriculum more inclusive and the program more equitable. Apparently the department chair is not happy. Time to foment rebellion, yes? Yes.
-There was a disturbing threat of lynching near my grad school institution, so Iāll be calling the county prosecutor today to demand justice