It came! The first book project I’ve been a part of arrived today. You can see it here. There could not be a more fitting day….
About two months ago, I sat on a patio with dear friends, white friends, who wanted to talk about race. Now these friends and I never talk about the weather. We always talk about those things you are told not to talk about at a cocktail party - politics, religion, education, and yes, race. That being said, race often ended up as a stalemate, a topic broached but never concluded. It is, of course, a topic never concluded, as it is a very complex issue with many offshoots and paths to discuss, with no clear answers. I have wondered out loud with them many times, especially when emotions were high, what our conversation might be like if a black person was at the table in our discussions.
As a white ally, I know that one of the most offensive things I can do is ask a person of color to speak for everyone that looks like them. Yet, with my dear friend, the author of “Hindsight is 2020: The Year White America Woke Up!” I knew I could ask him to go into this space with me. I knew that my friends had questions and topics to discuss and that living in an almost all white community, they had few opportunities to talk openly, honestly, and with trust about issues of race with a person of color. He being him, of course he agreed. When you read the book, you will see a recounting of this first meeting together. It was a meeting of fellowship and of hope.
Tonight, the night the book landed on our doorstep, was our second meeting together. We planned this two months ago yet it landed on the very day the book was delivered. What a wonderful coincidence!
And the first two friends, well they invited more friends, and our circle included five more, including a young woman just entering high school who had thoughtful questions about how to respond to racism. The questions, the comments, the conversation gives me hope. My friend always reminds me “reach one, teach one.” In this small way tonight, we demonstrated just that. We all want something to do, an action to take to make the current situation of unrest and the history of systemic racism to be rectified or at least to improve. What can we do? I don’t have all the answers nor do I purport to do so but I firmly believe what happened tonight has way more power than any of us can fathom, that white people sitting around a fire (lit or unlit), talking openly about race and being in this with our black and brown friends and family, is not a small thing. It is a huge step, as far as I am concerned, and is a great way forward - together. I hope to create virtual space for these dialogues right here. But also hope for more of these fireside chats. Conversation can be mightier than the pen….
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