I've actively tried to stop posting on FB every time another senseless act of violence is reported in the news, at the hands of police or otherwise. Mainly, because I think many of us have become complacent with using social media as our only brand of activism. It is as though there is some underlying belief (that I am incredibly guilty of) that if I just write this post, I've done my part. And then it stops there. The work begins and ends in a few characters on a website. And so I've stopped. Because I want to think of ways to do the work, without feeling the need to have other people acknowledge it. Without it needing to be validated by a "like".
But today, I feel like I have to say something. I've seen so many posts today immediately comparing the tragedy in Virginia today with all of the black lives taken at the hands of police over the past year and a half.
This, I think, is the greatest tragedy of all. That we, and yes, I'm saying we to other black folks (and anyone else who had that immediate reaction), have become so deeply enraged, so deeply traumatized, and so deeply injured by the disregard for our humanity, that we are starting not to be able to see it in others.
That we would not take a second just to lament that two lives were taken today. Someone's daughter, sister, girlfriend. Someone's fiancé. It is awful. And it doesn't make what happens to black people every day in this country any less awful. But not being able to access the common decency available within yourself just to feel grief or some bit of compassion for the lives lost today means that something is being taken away from us. Something deep. Something we must reclaim. We cannot let them take away the ties that bind. We cannot let them take away our humanity. Isn't that the very thing we are fighting for? For our humanity to be recognized, understood and respected?
Anger is human. Sadness is human. Confusion is human. Contradiction is human. To err is human. Fight for your wholeness. We can fight for black lives and still have compassion for others.