Come to the Table

For more than a decade, I have used social media to share experiences and feelings of myself and others on a number of issues including white supremacy and racial justice. Some of you who benefit from white body privilege have taken offense.

The history of Alabama, the USA, and Western Civilization taught in our schools is from the perspective of "the winners." The people who inhabited this land when Europeans arrived were already living in right relationship with the Divine and creation, and were not savages. My ancestors were not happy to be kidnapped, thrown into the bottom of ships as human cargo, sold into slavery, and denied their God-given dignity.

The continuing murders of innocent African-Americans, and the health disparities reflected in the impact of Covid-19 speak volumes. At this moment the Navajo Nation has the highest number of cases per capita than anywhere else. During this pandemic, what is happening to the children who are detained at the southern border, and the men and women who are either incarcerated or detained?

These challenges are not new in "the land of the free and the home of the brave." They merely shapeshift within each generation. Never been a fan of football, but I do have great respect for Colin Kaepernick for taking a knee during the national anthem to highlight the litany of glaring injustices. Yet, too many chose to label him as unpatriotic because the truth threatened their fragile delusions.

How can any person with an ounce of decency, or a moral compass ignore these facts? Why are you fearful of the reality that consistently BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) experience? Come to the table leaving your answers at home. Come to the table to encounter and engage. Come to the table to listen. Come to the table to learn hard truths. Come to the table to discern what is yours to do. Come to the table, or you will inevitably leave these injustices as your legacy to your children and grandchildren as surely as your ancestors gifted it to you.