Shavuot II Open Up: Stop in the Name of Love
“Stop in the name of love before you break my heart, think it over!”
Stop and gather the gifts of the past few hours. Think it over. Shavuot, AKA Zman Matan Torateinu, the time of the giving of the Torah. I am still giddy from immersing in beautiful teachings. Ah, Shavuot, AKA the Festival of Gathering, AKA Atzeret, a day of cessation from work.
“Stop!” said Dr. Renee Hill, PhD, proud black woman, independent scholar of religion and social change, spiritual and community leader. Our Renee, beloved Romemu member, stopped me with these words from Danielle Cadet, and I quote:
“A tale of two quarantines...baking bread…(versus) survival in a pandemic in a country they were never meant to live in. Black people have not only watched their friends and family members die at higher rates from the coronavirus, they have also watched people who look like them be gunned down while going for a jog, be murdered in their homes, threatened while bird watching in Central Park, and mercilessly choked on camera. But here’s a newsflash for all the white people unaware of this fact: your black colleagues may seem okay right now, but chances are they are not. The likelihood that your Black colleague lost a family member to COVID-19 is painfully high. The chances that your Black colleague was triggered by the viral video of Amy Cooper because a white woman used her race and privilege and weaponized it against him is incredibly likely. The possibility that your Black colleague is afraid to go for a run, or terrified when her husband leaves the house, or just simply enraged by the incessant lies this country keeps telling us about equal liberties is so high you’ll need a ladder to get it down.”
I pause here, beloved community, and urge you to put the names and faces of our black colleagues in these confrontations.
I continue to quote Danielle Cadet: “While you navigate this pandemic which has ravaged our way of life - and prematurely taken the lives of so many no matter what race - acknowledge that burden is falling on your Black colleagues disproportionately. And know that they’ll never show it. They’ve learned to navigate their worlds too well for that. And although we were told the degrees and the jobs and the accomplishments would somehow protect us from being treated like the degrees and the jobs and the accomplishments would somehow protect us from being treated like second-class citizens; although we were made to believe that working hard and and contributing to society wouldn mean society would treat us like human beings, we’ve learned the painful truth - that’s a lie. On behalf of your Black colleagues: we’re not okay. And you shouldn’t be either.” Close quote.
Bringing back the gifts of this season of Shavuot, the gifts of plenitude of harvest of the past hours… I will now speak in the “I”.
I, Mira, am stopping in the name of Love, taking the advice of Kedushat Levi on Shavuot. When I awaken from a spark of inspiration to the love, awe, fear and trembling of G!d, I can easily lose that inspiration unless I do something to contain and preserve it.
So on this Festival of the Giving of Torah, Zman Matan Torateinu - I, American-born daughter of immigrants from the Philippines, who benefits from white privilege to some degree, I am stopping in the name of love and gathering forces.
I am here because the actions of black civil rights leaders fought to pass the Immigation Act which actually allowed my mother and father to thrive, truly a miracle, to benefit and contribute to society. Alas, they were contributing to the same white supremacist society that has been killing the same black communities, and the brown community where I am counted. Just as my family fought for a better life for me, I stand with the black and brown communities who in many cases have yet to see the same human rights that were served to me and my family, rights we all deserve as human beings.
Meanwhile as I Stop and Gather on this Shavuot, these are the things that I can do, or so I assume I can do:
I can go birding (#ChristianCooper).
I can go jogging (#AmaudArbery).
I can relax in the comfort of my own home (#BothemSean and #AtatianaJefferson).
I can ask for help after being in a car crash (#JonathanFerrell and #RenishaMcBride).
I can have a cellphone (#StephonClark).
I can leave a party to get to safety (#JordanEdwards).
I can play loud music (#JordanDavis).
I can sell CDs (#AltonSterling).
I can sleep (#AiyanaJones)
I can walk from the corner store (#MikeBrown).
I can play cops and robbers (#TamirRice).
I can go to church (#Charleston9).
I can walk home with Skittles (#TrayvonMartin).
I can hold a hair brush while leaving my own bachelor party (#SeanBell).
I can party on New Years (#OscarGrant).
I can get a normal traffic ticket (#SandraBland).
I can lawfully carry a weapon (#PhilandoCastile).
I can break down on a public road with car problems (#CoreyJones).
I can shop at Walmart (#JohnCrawford) .
I can have a disabled vehicle (#TerrenceCrutcher).
I can read a book in my own car (#KeithScott).
I can be a 10yr old walking with our grandfather (#CliffordGlover).
I can decorate for a party (#ClaudeReese).
I can ask a cop a question (#RandyEvans).
I can cash a check in peace (#YvonneSmallwood).
I can take out my wallet (#AmadouDiallo).
I can run (#WalterScott).
I can breathe (#EricGarner).
I can live (#FreddieGray).
I can be arrested without the fear of being murdered. (#GeorgeFloyd,
#TonyMcDade).
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable, My Rock and My Redeemer.
White privilege is real. Take a minute to consider a Black person’s experience today.
