On June 2nd, following the violent death of George Floyd and protests across the country calling for an end to police brutality on Black lives, Enroot Executive Director, Ben Clark, published an op-ed in The Cambridge Chronicle:
Dear Fellow White People, Our Country is Sick and You Must Take Action
In case you hadn’t noticed, our country is sick. The brutal murders of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Nina Pop, Tony McDade, and George Floyd are just the latest symptoms. Others include the fact that the median net worth of black households in the Boston area is $8, compared to $247,500 for white households. And that, nationally, black students graduate from college in four year at less than half the rate of white students. Black people are five times as likely to be killed by police than white people when unarmed. Black mothers are 2.5 times as likely to die from pregnancy or childbirth related causes. If it is shocking to watch moments of violence on video clips we must ask ourselves why we are not similarly enraged by the slow-motion violence of racism in our school systems, criminal justice system, healthcare, housing, employment, and daily social rituals. Only a sick society would roll over and say, “There’s just nothing we can do about that.”
Our country has been sick since it was born, with racism.
The infection began when we killed and stole land from Native Americans, and enslaved Africans to work it. Although it’s more convenient to tell ourselves our country was founded on ideals of liberty and justice, the truth is, we were built on stolen land and slave labor.
The ultimate cure for our condition requires two significant and risky treatments: a national truth and reconciliation process and reparations. These are non-negotiables, but they will come only with better leadership. For now, and without delay, all white people must become active in systematically dismantling the white supremacy and oppressive systems we put in place to justify the enslavement of Africans and maintain the ongoing subjugation of black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC). It is unacceptable to be white and not actively engaged in this work.
I write this humbly, not as an example to follow or someone who is making all the right moves. I write as a fellow white person who is similarly saddened and enraged by nonstop brutal violence perpetrated against black people. I write as someone proud to be an ally, but eager to live into the title of Co-conspirator. I write as someone who considers myself an anti-racist, and yet recognizes that this requires so much more than I have been doing. It requires relentless, daily action. As a cisgender white man, it’s especially important for me to take full advantage of the concentrated privilege and power I hold, though it was unearned, to combat racism in all of its manifestations.
I believe we must envision and create a collective nation-wide effort where we are all enlisted to play a role, the way we did in 1942 when millions of people in this country dropped what they were doing and began building planes, ships, and tanks. When victory gardens grew in even tiny yards. When millions of young men walked straight into death, because it mattered that much. When not a single person in this country remained idle, because that was what the moment demanded of us. We did this to confront unthinkable racist violence, perpetrated by a sick nation, under the command of a sick leader. We must be willing to look ourselves honestly in the mirror, and recognize our own deeply-entrenched racism to be a threat worthy of a similar all-hands-on-deck response.
I am the grandson of a WWII veteran who was one of five brothers who all served, and who returned home nearly dead after several giant airplane bullets ripped through his abdomen and exited his back. I know that many of you, too, can draw inspiration and courage from your parents, grandparents, and great grandparents.
So I am imploring you to join me and to find your role in this effort.
If you are not sure where to start, look for articles with suggestions, like “Keep That Same Energy” by Samuel M. Gebru or “75 Things White People Can Do For Racial Justice” by Corrine Shutack. Share them with your friends, and begin checking action items off together.
Although many may feel guilt and regret at not having more actively joined this fight sooner, as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “The time is always right to do what is right.”
We simply cannot and will not get well unless all white people become active in fighting racism every day.
Ben Clark is executive director of Enroot, a Cambridge-based nonprofit that supports immigrant students to achieve academic, career and personal success. For more information, visit enrooteducation.org.