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When I was 14, my mom took me out of private school and moved us to the suburbs of Maplewood, NJ. It took me a couple years to adapt to our new life & chief among that adaptation was the racism I experienced walking home from school & in neighborhood stores.
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I was triggered today by the comments of the man baby who lives in the White House. It reminded me of the many times I was stopped by police for just walking home in a large group of black teens. Teens whose family made the sacrifices to move them to a “better” neighborhood.
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We all know what he meant. He meant that those neighborhoods are protection for white lives. And we “others” do not belong. It’s the kind of language that has supported violence and stoked racialized terror of minorities in those communities for 60 years.
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I have lived in communities all over NJ and Baltimore, MD. I’ve lived surrounded by all white people and I’ve also lived surrounded by all black people. I’ve known good and had people in all of those instances and it never had anything to do with color.
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Most times those “bad” experiences were fueled by false narratives & perceptions & a false sense of entitlement. Building safe, equitable, thriving communities takes investment and resources from all stakeholders. It takes perspective & will. It takes citizens from all walk.
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This country is bubbling up the puss of its founding and we can’t afford to continue on this path. These kinds of attacks invite and spark more violence on innocent people going about their lives just trying to do their best to support themselves and their families.
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Tax paying citizens deserve to live wherever they can afford to. Suburbia does not belong to white people.
