So just to clarify. There is an uprising in response to the police public murder of George Lloyd as yet another police murder of a black person, and that uprising appears to include some property destruction, and includes people of all races standing up for justice/against racism. There are also leftwing black-bloc types, often white, long enthused about and talented at property destruction and sometimes about baiting the police and heating up the situation, and they seem to have shown up in some places. They share some of the goals of the first group, but don’t necessarily benefit it.

There is a very good argument to be made that property destruction is not violence, not in the sense that harming living beings is. 

But it’s complicated too: I wrote in 2011, ” Here I want to be clear that property damage is not necessarily violence. The firefighter breaks the door to get the people out of the building. But the husband breaks the dishes to demonstrate to his wife that he can and may also break her. It’s violence displaced onto the inanimate as a threat to the animate.” And there’s a way that raising the alarm with what we call a riot for justice by the most oppressed is like breaking down the door because people are trapped inside. Because they are.

~Rebecca Solnit

you will have resistance….that’s the marker of oppression….

inquiry for today~ we cannot know…..be humble today…..

pray

To the Non-Black Mom, 

Can you raise your child not to fear my son’s black skin? 

Can you become an advocate and stand with mothers of black sons, to fight for justice?

We need you as allies. We need you to pull up and be an activist when we are too. 

We show up for you being feminists and advocating Women’s Rights, now is the time that I need you to show up for us.

Every last one of those men that killed an unarmed black boy was raised by a mother. I wish that mother had the opportunity to read this post when her child was young. 

We need your votes. We need your voices. We need your help to ensure that our black boys live the lives they deserve. They will no longer be seen as less than human beings if you stand with us. I strongly encourage you to think about how you can support your fellow black moms before time runs out and our beautiful black boys grow from being cute to a threat.

~Georgina Dukes