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Showing posts from May, 2020

Blood on our hands

Ahmaud Arbery died, and there is blood on our hands. It is his blood and Botham Jean's blood and Atatiana Jefferson's blood and Tamir Rice's blood and Philando Castile's blood and Trayvon Martin's blood and Eric Garner's blood and the blood of dozens of other black men and women who have become hashtags and the uncounted others whose stories died with them. I know, you are not the one who pulled the trigger. Neither did I. I believe murder is wrong. I'm sure you would agree. How is it, then, that I can say that this man's blood is on our hands? And whose hands am I even referring to? The hands in question are my own. I am writing about my hands. As a citizen of the United States of America, as a Christian, as a human of European ancestry with white skin, there is blood on my hands. It might be on yours, too. Ahmaud Arbery's blood is on our hands because white supremacy is present in our hearts and our homes and our churches. We would never say ...