Enraged and Taking Action
In response to the killing of George Floyd, I have access to anger in a way that I haven’t had since I was very young. My material [distress] (white, female, Protestant, Catholic) is to second-guess [doubt] my mind and think that there’s something wrong with me for being angry, I should stop being so irrational, and should be punished for being angry. But I am so angry that for several days I felt like throwing rocks and lighting fires. It is clearer to me than ever how important it is to get the tools of RC into the hands of more people.
I feel like I will never again be as numb about racism as I used to be. I hope this is happening for other white people, too. In my case, it probably helped that I had already created the conditions to have big, unbearable feelings—close relationships with friends and Co-Counselors, regular discharge, and practice looking at hard things and then getting my attention out. If your heart hasn’t been cracked open yet, I encourage you to create the conditions so that you can face this. It is worth it.
Among other things, I am reading RC and wide world articles about racism toward African-heritage people, learning about and supporting the current campaigns of Black community organizations in Minnesota, and calling and e-mailing local and state officials here.
Somerville, Massachusetts, USA (formerly Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA)
Reprinted from the e-mail discussion list for RC Community members
(Present Time 201, October 2020)