I was relaxing on the couch snuggling
under a blanket with my 7-year old and 8-year old when the evening
news came on the TV. When the top story showed the horrific video of
the George Floyd murder, I was about ready to turn the channel. I'm
in the habit of shielding the kids but this time I realized that they
needed to see it. They stayed quiet and just watched. I tried not to
interrupt their confusion while I looked on in horror. I answered any
questions they had and gave explanations to their whys as best I
could. I had a lot of why questions myself.
We are a white family in Iowa. We are
well intentioned, but my sons will not know what it feels like to be
discriminated against. It becomes our job to make them understand
that Black Lives Matter. It will be our job to make them
understand that just by saying we treat everyone equally isn't
enough. Equal is not fair. That
motto was something I used to teach high school students. Every
student wanted everything to be the same; however, every student had
different abilities and backgrounds. Many students complained about
other students getting into college because of their race. My answer
to that was with a question, “Would you trade places with them?”
My husband calls himself a white privileged male. I have reservations about putting the
chickens to bed at night because of the heavy coyote population,
which is when my husband first called himself a privileged white
male. He explained that I was taught, as a woman, to be cautious and
prepared, even afraid in some cases while my husband has never needed
those teachings. Now African American children are being taught to be
cautious, prepared, and afraid of the police while I'm teaching my
children to go to the police for help.
Parents that are keeping silent about
race are contributing to the problem. Ignoring race or believing that
we are all equal means that we will all ignore the issue. Will you
stop someone from being racist or will you ignore it? Many people
don't want a confrontation, so it's easier to ignore the problem.
Three other police officers didn't stop George Floyd's murder.
In this country's dark hour, I will be
holding my children close and asking them about how they are feeling
when they watch the news or asking how they would respond. I will be
reading more anti racism books and watching more videos about MLK and
Rosa Parks.
For the adults reading this, I
encourage you to educate yourself. What if George Floyd was your son,
brother, father, or friend? If you respond on social media to Black
Lives Matter with All Lives Matter, I feel like you don't understand
and need more information. All lives do matter, but don't diminish
black lives by saying that we are all equal.
I'm a supporter of peaceful protests.
If there is something wrong it's everyone's duty to say something or
do something. As an adult, I can vote for local officials and find
ways to contribute to my own community. This community that my
husband and I live, work, grow our business, and raise our children
in needs everyone to be in this together. We are all human beings,
99.9% of our DNA is the same. Don't stay silent, teach your children.
