where the words equality, equity, and inclusion are our love language
by Austin Channing Brown
Footnotes
Title
passage from Full of Myself on the importance of believing Black women
"Mr. Rogers told us to find the helpers, but he never told us what to do when the helpers are executed." This is a sentiment I have seen over and over again on threads. And I understand the sentiment. And while I think it's debatable whether or not that's true, there is one thing I know for sure. And it's that Black women have absolutely answered this question. Black women have been telling America what to do when the helpers are killed.
It is so easy to believe that what we are experiencing right now is wild, is insane, is unbelievable, is unpredictable, and friends, it's simply not true.
Black people in this country have been telling you for generations about policing in America.
Indigenous folks have been telling you for generations about policing in this country.
Queer folks have, for generations, been telling you about policing in this country.
And I need you to know that I don't say that as some, "gotcha" or even as an "I told you so." I need us to understand this truth because America is really good, perhaps the best, at creating a system that is separate and unequal. I am concerned that in this moment, if you join the movement, but don't connect the dots to policing in America, if you make this just about ICE, just about border patrol, just about this administration, that you will miss the opportunity to join a larger movement. And if you miss it, we will once again create another policing system that is separate and unequal.
I am concerned that what we will do is make it illegal, perhaps impossible for more white people to be killed, but maintain the cruelties Black and Brown people have suffered under. I need us to not just stop ICE. I need us to not just stop border control. I need us to recognize that this is and has always been policing in America (for some of us), and we all have an opportunity to change it. We have an opportunity to do something different, to erect a new system, to expect more, to change it all, to tear it down, to build something new. But you won't do that if you really believe that this is some new era, an unforeseen blip, a limited experience in America. It is not. It is not.
All the Black folks who have been gunned down in this country, unarmed in the middle of the street, they were someone's helper, too. They were someone's partner. They were someone's child. They were someone's best friend. They were someone's parent. They were someone's lover. They mattered to somebody.
We are watching the same tactics unfold right now, as the administration tries to convince you that Renee and Alex got what they deserved by calling them terrorists, to justify their deaths. Black people are very familiar with this tactic because it has worked time and time again when the helper was Black. After Mike Brown was executed in the street, the New York Times wrote that he was "no angel"— an 18-year-old. Can you imagine? Your child is gunned down in the middle of the street, and the New York Times writes that he was no angel.
We saw it with George Floyd, trying to convince us that a fake bill was reason enough for the assault. We saw it with Eric Garner and his loosie cigarettes. We saw it with Amaud Aubrey as the news released video of him checking out an empty construction site. There is always a justification, and I cannot tell you how many nasty emails and comments I have personally received for each of these individuals—convinced that there is any reason on earth that makes extrajudicial killings acceptable. After the death of Trayvon Martin, which rocked me to my core, (white) people wanted to argue with me about whether or not he actually had an Arizona iced tea and Skittles. That detail was more important than his being stalked and killed.
No. This is not new. This is not an unrecognizable America. This is America. Separate and unequal systems. Separate and unequal experiences. Separate and unequal reactions. Separate and unequal empathy.Separate and unequal justice.
But it doesn't have to stay that way. We can change it. We could make a significant difference in American policing right now. We could say that this violent policing is wrong—not just for ICE, not just for Border Patrol, not just under a Republican administration, not just in Minnesota.... but anywhere, anytime. We could decide that we will not tolerate unaccountability. We could decide that policing itself needs an intervention. We could decide that the way we think about safety is changing, and who keeps us safe is changing. We could make a significant stride forward by deciding that we—the residents—make decisions about the police, not the other way around.
Are we just pawns for the police to move at will? Or do we, the residents, get to decide what we want for our own communities?
Historically, the police have only answered to themselves. Historically, police have only answered to higher positions—like mayors. But what if. What if policing looked the way you wanted it to look? Do you know what you want? Have you witnessed a glimpse of what's possible based on the new systems, groups, and communities you have formed?
Don't just fight for now. Fight for us all. Fight for everybody. Fight for all the helpers.
*PLEASE BE AWARE, THIS NEWSLETTER CONTAINS AFFILIATE LINKS TO BOOKSHOP.ORG, WHICH MEANS I RECEIVE A SMALL COMMISSION IF YOU CHOOSE TO MAKE A PURCHASE USING THE BOOK LINKS. I WILL BE USING SAID COMMISSION TO FEED MY BOOK ADDICTION, OFFER YOU MORE REVIEWS, AND AROUND AND AROUND WE GO. THE COMMISSION DOES NOT COST YOU ANYTHING, AND I WILL ALWAYS LET YOU KNOW IF I RECEIVED ANY OF THE BOOKS FOR FREE99.
Book List
"Let This Radicalize You is a rich treasury of practical lessons and insights from organizers and activists across many of today's most important sites of struggle. Through deeply moving storytelling, Kelly Hayes and Mariame Kaba share a stirring vision of commitment and collaboration that is rooted in love, reality, and solidarity...
The central problem, Vitale demonstrates, in The End of Policing, is the dramatic expansion of the police role over the last forty years. Drawing on firsthand research from across the globe, he shows how the implementation of alternatives to policing—such as drug legalization, regulation, and harm reduction instead of the policing of drugs—has led to reductions in crime, spending, and injustice.
Abolition Geography moves us away from explanations of mass incarceration and racist violence focused on uninterrupted histories of prejudice or the dull compulsion of neoliberal economics. Instead, Gilmore offers a geographical grasp of how contemporary racial capitalism operates through an “anti-state state” that answers crises with the organized abandonment of people and environments deemed surplus to requirement. Abolition Geography undoes the identification of abolition with mere decarceration, and reminds us that freedom is not a mere principle but a place.
I love writing about antiracism and racial justice in America. I started writing publicly around 2014, having no idea that one day I'd be able to find my own books at the library. I love my community, and I hope to be writing about blackness for the rest of my life. AND, I really love writing. I love sentences. I love grammar I love the craft of writing. Sometimes I long to be invited to workshops and courses where I could just talk about process. This week, I made it happen for myself.
I partnered with a local bookstore, who graciously allowed me to host a writing workshop in their store. Seven or eight local folks gathered round, and we talked about parts of speech, and our favorite passages, and the punctuation we cant live without.
It was a beautiful time of connection to our passion and fellow writers. I did have a pinprick of sadness because I deeply wanted to be able to call my dad and tell him about this amazing thing I was going to do. But by the time I left, I was all smiles and adrenaline and grateful to have had a Dad who believed all of this was possible for me.
TIP JAR
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Austin Channing Brown is the author of NYT Bestseller and Reese Book Club pick, Im Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness. Her newest book, Full of Myself is already a USA Today bestseller but she's waiting to be placed on your bookshelf.
