Thanks to those who have shown support to the Black community in Creston, including those who have learned new information and are now working to better understand themselves and the world around them.
I am referring, of course, to the internal prejudices and biases all of us have, whether we know it or not. As a white woman married to a white man, I am able to overlook much of what happens in society regarding racism and discrimination to those who are not straight and white. Does that mean I should though? Should I not make myself aware of how others walk through life in this country? Should I allow injustices to happen and stay silent just because those injustices aren’t currently affecting anyone in my immediate family?
I have chosen to answer all of those questions with a firm “Hell no.” I have chosen to believe Black individuals when they tell me of the incidences of racism they experience regularly. I have chosen to look at those incidences as a whole instead of focusing on one minor (to me) incident and thinking “It can’t really be that bad.” I have chosen to work to convert any guilt or shame I feel when hearing these stories into actions, big and small, that I can take to chip away at the systems of racism and oppression that have existed since this land was stolen from Indigenous people by my ancestors.
Did I personally do the stealing? Is slavery my fault as a white person? Of course not. I sincerely hope that I would have seen other human beings who were stolen from their homes and treated deplorably and said something if I lived during that time, but I can never say for certain. What I do know is that I benefit from some of these systems still in place today and it is my personal responsibility to look at my life and how it is different than the lives of my Black family, friends, students, and community members.
I would say most of the folks who have chosen to make this community their home also believe in personal responsibility. They believe in justice for all people. They believe that while some people are not free, no one is free. I think the disconnect comes when we are asked to believe and acknowledge something that we see no evidence of on a daily basis. We don’t experience this treatment and have a hard time believing it is happening to others.
What I would ask this community to do is notice. Reflect. Think about how you are or are not affected by things happening around the world. We want Creston and this region to be a place that welcomes all people, in its actions as well as its words. Please remember, just because something is not important to you doesn’t mean it’s not important.