To All White People, We Must Not Be Silent

George Floyd is dead. George Floyd is dead because a police officer knelt on Mr. Floyd's neck for more than seven minutes, while Mr. Floyd was handcuffed, despite Mr. Floyd saying "I can't breathe" and "I'm about to die." There is video of this tragic event. For me, it was powerful and sickening all at the same time. The reason I'm not including it anymore in this post is that I have a fabulous PLN in Vermont that helps me see blind spots. It was brought to my attention that while showing the video spreads awareness of the racism, it may be traumatic to Black Indigenous People of Color (BIPOC).  

Why were the police called in the first place? A shopkeeper called 911 to report that someone completed a transaction with counterfeit bills. Since the video above surfaced, several others have come to light that when pieced together, show the entirety of the interaction between Mr. Floyd and the police. There is nothing that this man did, nor was accused of that warranted being smothered to death. Nothing. 

George Floyd was murdered because of the color of his skin. Period. End of sentence. I know there are plenty of people that will disagree with me. I'm OK with that. I'm OK with you disagreeing because I know that racism is alive and well in our country. 

In 2018, when Montpelier High School's Racial Justice Alliance raised the first Black Lives Matter flag on a public high school campus, we received calls, some very menacing in nature, to our Leadership Team. Several threatened specific physical harm. A few told us we should raise a flag that says All Lives Matter, a familiar refrain I've heard as other schools in Vermont have also put this critical message on their campuses. 

Yes, all lives matter, and I agree with that. But that is not how we started our country. Our country was born of free and enslaved people. I'm not going to get into the semantics of the three-fifths compromise. I'm stating the facts. 

Article I, Section 2 of the United States Constitution stated (until 1865 and the 13th Amendment): "Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several states which may be included within this Union, according to their respective numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole number of free persons, including those bound to service for a term of years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other persons." The "other persons" referenced in the original text were slaves. 

So yes, all lives DO matter. But all lives haven't mattered from the beginning. And this is one of the many reasons we are struggling with racism as a country and as a state. Fundamentally we began this great experiment in democracy with an unequal playing field, and it continues to this day. 

Consider these examples from our country in the past few months. 

• Christian Cooper was watching birds in Central Park. When he asked Amy Cooper (no relation) to leash her dog, per the rules for that area of the park, Ms. Cooper called the police and reported to Mr. Cooper while making the call, "I'm going to tell them there's an African-American man threatening my life." 
• Ahmed Aubrey was shot while jogging, after a confrontation with two men in February. The responding officers recorded the account of Gregory and Travis McMichael and let them go home. Wanda Cooper, Mr. Aubrey's mother, was told, her son had been involved in a burglary and was killed by the "homeowner." We now know a different account of that story and that the McMichaels have been charged in the death of Mr. Aubrey. 

Consider these examples from our state: 

• The moment that spurred the first Black Lives Matter flag flying at a high school came almost two years earlier. One of the African American students at Montpelier High School, Joelyn Mensah, asked two white students to stop using the "N" word, while Major Jackson was giving a presentation at the school. Not only did they refuse, but they also used that racial slur toward Ms. Mensah. 
• Kiah Morris, the second-ever female African American lawmaker in our legislature, resigned after four years of public service. In her own words, she "intentionally left for many reasons," one of which was the safety of her family after racial harassment in her hometown of Bennington. 

So how do we move forward? From a colleague in Vermont, Peter Langella, one thing we cannot due is to expect this work to be done by our students of color in this state: 

Instead, those of us who are white must use our privilege, our platform, and our power in all of our places. We need to speak to our neighbors and our allies, those who agree with us, and more importantly those who disagree with us. We cannot allow systemic racism to continue to invade our state, like an untreated cancer, to advance and conquer our idyllic cities and towns, taking hold in the minds of our young people. We must be both an advocate and an ally, reflect and realize our implicit biases, and work our tails off to address them in our day-to-day lives. 

I am mindful of the quote from Lilla Watson, an Australian aboriginal woman: "If you have come here to help me, you are wasting your time. But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us walk together." My liberation, as a white man, is bound up with the people of color in the state of Vermont. 

I will not be silent. 

Photo Courtesy of Sheldon L. Eakins, Ph.D., Leading Equity Center