Doing Your Work is More Than Just Talking About It

I know, a super ironic title for a piece talking about what it’s like to do the internal work required to be less of a racist, or less co-dependent, or just less of an a$$hole.

Here’s the deal: more black people in America were lynched for doing normal things like calling someone out for an unleashed dog or going for a walk, or the ordinary, every day things that all of us should have the freedom to do without fear of dying by the hands of the police. It’s traumatic, it’s terrifying, and when even my white boomer parents bring it up over lunch, we know it’s reached a true point of ridiculousness.

We’ve seen a ton of posts calling for white women, white men, white parents, etc. to “get to work” making sure that none of us become “Karens” — people who call the cops because someone looks suspicious black while grilling, swimming, walking, calling you out for violating the leash law, existing, etc.

Ordinarily, this kind of media event would trigger my classic *throws up hands and says, “THIS IS WHY WE CAN’T HAVE NICE THINGS”* response but I’m tired. We’re stressed. We’re making our way through a global pandemic, trying to make sure our kids aren’t too scarred, lonely, etc., maimed by the ‘rona, and then THIS. It makes us queasily peer under that little unsightly flap of the USA’s original sin of racism and see…