Dear Mayors:
Communities in pain do not need a police state composed of National Guard and multi-jurisdictions of law enforcement to facilitate the grief process after witnessing a public execution in the middle of the town square.
Black people are in pain nationally/internationally. Our spirituality connects us so that when one of us is harmed, we literally feel the pain in our chests, our breasts, our heads, our hearts.
We are in pain not just because of George Floyd, but still in the rawness of grief over the murders of Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbrey, Atatiana Jefferson. Heck I am still grieving the loss of Nipsey. Some are still grieving Kobe. Two public figures who gave our community hope. We are hurting. And yes, contrary to popular belief, we feel pain.
We are at the same time grieving the tragic loss of so many African Americans due to COVID-19. We are grieving the deaths of friends who we just saw smiling as Mardi Gras, nieces and nephews who worked at the grocery store, the pregnant mom who was a nurse, the neighborhood bus driver who safely took us to work each day, or a family friend who worked at meat packing plant. We grieve a parent who lived at a nursing home or the first responder uncle who lacked PPE aiding others.
Instead of reallocating resources to safeguard the health and welfare as numbers of the great racial disparity come out, we are being told to go back to work in unsanitary and unsafe conditions to have stakes to grill this summer, address the health of those who choose not to wear a mask, and replace unemployment with minimum wage jobs.
Coronavirus is a Trojan horse that grasped our attention. Entering into “stage 2 and 3 of re-opening”, we are given an opportunity to face historic inequities and make them right. All of these deaths are at the hands of racism – a state sanctioned strategy weaponized to control placement of the Black body as bio-fuel for the national economy and white privilege.
#BlackLivesMatter posted on SM walls by allies cannot describe this pain. #HealYourHate and #StopKilling may be a little closer.
Right now, our communities need support to heal. We don’t need criticism. We need reallocation of new funding designated for law enforcement and the National Guard to be redistributed to communities for local based solutions that provide living wage jobs, adequate healthcare, land for community gardens and changes in zoning law to allow live animals for affordable access to food.
We need medical reimbursement for art spaces and community centers to incorporate mental wellness and building positive self-esteem. We need to subsidize social enterprises that provide jobs, skill training, and community benefits. We need equitable funding for Black-led organizations and increased funding for community interventionist programs to name a few.
We need adequate infrastructure investment to upgrade wi-fi networks, increase electrical loads, take the lead out of water lines, unplug sewer lines, mitigate air pollution, and expand greenspace for socialization and respite.
We need flexibility in developing an education curriculum that validates life and offers a comprehensive view of history beyond being taught that we were slaves as if this is all that we can rise to.
We need housing and land ownership to experience a sense of permanency and stake to build community.
We need space and time for our elders, community healers, spiritual leaders, activists, business owners, and other indigenous crisis response network members to gather us and let us grieve safely.
And in this process of healing, we need humility to reach out to our Native American and Mexican American (remember Texas to California was Mexico until around the 1850’s) Brothers and Sisters and sit in a Council of Elders to acknowledge their ownership of this land and ask permission to leverage time, blood, and sweat invested to-date to co-exist here into the future.
Meanwhile – you all can focus on gathering your staff, departments, and non-Black communities in dialogue, anti-Black bias training, and others means to heal anti-black sentiment that leads to acts of hate and decisions that kill black bodies.
Resmaa Menakem stated: “White fragility is a lie, a dodge, a myth, and a form of denial. White Americans can create culture that confronts and dismantles white body supremacy. Any suggestion that they are unable to rise to this challenge is a lie. White Americans are anything but helpless or fragile. They are (of course) precisely as capable as other human beings. But the need to refuse to doge the responsibility of confronting white body supremacy- or the responsibility of growing up.” (My Grandmother’s Hands)
Similar to Minneapolis, Los Angeles is home to a rainbow of races, ethnicities, and identities, however anti-Blackness condoned by a majority white culture has permeated the psyche of all. We need the Latinx, LGBQTI, Middle Eastern, Persian, Asian American, Jewish Americans, Korean American, Feminist, Indian, African, Caribbean, Cuban Lucumi, Mexican, Central American, + communities to address anti-Blackness biases within. The People of Color banner is not protecting us.
We stand in solidarity, but it is important to awaken (you can’t be woke until you have awakened) and heal the embodied anti-Blackness conditioned through American culture that creates behaviors and decision-making that kills us and creates mistrust and tensions between our communities. There are many good organizations who can help you lead this anti-racist work- engage them.
As Mayors your role must change from safeguarding the interests of elite empowered by their monetary wealth and be more collaborative with community calling for Council of Elders to build environments that allow all to rise and harness the collective power of community regardless of race, income, identity. This is the only sustainable way to reshape America in a post-COVID reality. Healed and Awakened, we can then truly walk in unity, and together birth the nation where we all can “Be” safely in our divine space on Mother Earth.
Thank you Mayors for your attention!
Sincerely,
The seed my great grandparents planted.
#OneLove #OnePlanet #HealHate #StopKillingUs
Alisa's thoughts on Beloved Communities 