The candle was still lit. Police Station. Portland, Maine.
Resmaa Menakem on the embodied experience of race. So grateful to encounter his words...
Resmaa Menakem on the embodied experience of race. So grateful to encounter his words. He had me when he asks about diversity. What are we building diversity from. And that question was worth agonizing over and an answer worth owning.
https://onbeing.org/programs/resmaa-menakem-notice-the-rage-notice-the-silence/
Monument Square. Portland, Maine.
A beautiful day in the neighborhood. If I had had a baby pool...
Dear Anonymous,
A beautiful day in the neighborhood. If I had had a baby pool we may have all invited one another to roll up our pants and stick our feet in. And I would have loved that.
Another man living rough out here mentions that the BLM protest on Commercial Street last night was the most moving thing he had ever witnessed. Silent, he said.
'It was amazing....' as approximately 2000 people layed themselves down on this street we stand on.
'Amazing...' he says, gently shaking his head and walking his bicycle away.
Peony planet... and a message from Maine-Wabanki REACH.
Peony planet... and a message from Maine-Wabanki REACH.
https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/mainewabanakireach/mailings/1120/attachments/original/Black_Lives_Matter_FINAL__6.4.20-w_logo.pdf
Full text of message from Maine-Wabanaki REACH:
“Black Lives Matter. We are Maine-Wabanaki REACH. We are a collaboration of Native and non-Native people. We condemn police brutality, state sanctioned violence, murder, and the dehumanization of Black people. We recognize that this crisis did not start with police violence, and that police violence is a tool of maintaining white supremacy. We recognize this is a moment of accountability for REACH and that we must do better. It is not enough to take for granted that, of course, a Wabanaki organization is pro-Black, anti-racist, antiwhite supremacy. We need to be vocal, deliberate, and intentional about all those things - in what we say and what we do. By not being vocal, deliberate, and intentional, we allow the killing of Black people with impunity and we are complicit. We acknowledge that Black and Tribal communities are not entirely distinct - many Tribal people are Black and many Black people are Indigenous. We know that Black people and Indigenous people have been impacted in different ways by the same forces of white supremacy and colonization. As Indigenous people, we must stand with our Black relatives and fight for their liberation. We acknowledge that white supremacy exists through strategies of oppression of Black and Indigenous people that benefits White people, particularly those of European descent. We know it is not enough to be passively non-racist, we need to be actively anti-racist, intentionally anti-white supremacy and pro-Black. As White people, we must acknowledge and repair the harms we have done and continue to do/allow to happen to Black people by the colonization of this country, recognize the lasting impact of these harms, and create a more just future through commitments and actions grounded in love, compassion, and generosity. We truly believe there can be no peace without justice, and we follow the lead of Black people, organizations, and communities in this journey of truth, healing, and change. We take responsibility for our own education and we figure out the best ways to act in solidarity with Black people. We act from a lens of decolonization, of undoing the ways in which we have been indoctrinated to devalue Black people and accept their systemic dehumanization. We support the Black Lives Matter movement and organization, we urge you to do the same. Listen to and support Black organizations with donations. Support Black businesses. Believe Black people. Care for each other. Black Lives Matter.”
Maine has quite a history with the KKK and not all in the conveniently distant past...
Maine has quite a history with the KKK and not all in the conveniently distant past. I am not comparing Maine's history with other states, other places. And let me be clear, I think we have to own our history so we can move forward. To examine it. To examine our relationship to race. To ask how this may impact people of color and as urgently ask how this in any way shapes us, shapes me as a white person. To begin to understand how this lives in our lives, in our culture today. I think we need to own our attempt at genocide of indigenous people HERE. To own our history of white supremacy HERE no matter how removed we may feel from white supremacy. So, that's why I post this. Maybe a few others, like me, unfamiliar with this state's history could be informed.
https://maineanencyclopedia.com/ku-klux-klan/
Outside Portland Police Station. Post Protest.
Outside the Portland Maine Police Station there was a sidewalk filled with protest signs. Not trash...
Outside the Portland Maine Police Station there was a sidewalk filled with protest signs. Not trash. Intentionally arranged. Signs that read: Black Lives Matter. Silence = Violence. There were signs from allies. Signs of frustration. Signs of anger. Signs of condolences and grief.
Around the corner lying on the sidewalk are two slightly wobbly looking, somewhat tattered and torn origami paper cranes next to a wilted lilac blossom. They appear wounded. I was wrong. They were perfect.
Say their name.
Say their name.
'IS MY SON NEXT?' The garden outside Portland Police Station. Fiercely tragic and condemnable, there has always been strange fruit in this land.
'IS MY SON NEXT?'
The garden outside Portland Police Station. Fiercely tragic and condemnable, there has always been strange fruit in this land.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Strange_Fruit_(Billie_Holiday).ogg