Trusting the Process: Getting There From Here

(Updated 6.14.20 at 11:56 a.m.)†

(Updated 6.14.20 at 4:12 p.m.)††

While masses of individuals across the globe have been still enough to notice, much evil has been revealed. The virus that caused the shutdown of life as we knew it exposed the virus of systemic racism that has been running through American history since the colonists arrived into the land of the Native tribes. After the three seemingly back-to-back murders of Ahmaud Arbury, Breonna Taylor and George Floyd that occurred for no cause, and Christian Cooper’s being reported as a threat for simply observing birds a massive multiracial rising in solidarity occurred. It eclipsed any that I have experienced to date. In the silence of a physical pandemic a 2020 Consciousness Raising manifested. Various intertwined movements had gained traction and expanded into Black Lives Matter. Urgent issues brought into larger cultural awareness over the past decade were heard this time as never before. The revolution was not only live, it was televised.

In this morning’s email feed I listened to a wonderful interview between Krista Tippett and Eula Biss, Talking About Whiteness, which prompted this post. Tippett’s The Pause is part of her On Being Project. As a white woman who has been striving to become educated over the years around the issues of racism and white supremacy, like them, I will always have much to learn. I’m embarrassed to admit that I intimidated myself in 2012 against listing Noel Ignatiev’s book, How The Irish Became White, in the bibliography for my first book and in my blog about Irish history and genealogy topics. I feared potentially offending some unknown someone. Irish musician Imelda May, however, thankfully called out publicly last week anyone of Irish ancestry who had bigotry in their psyche with her spoken word work You Don’t Get to Be Racist and Irish.

Involved friends and colleagues over the years have shared important resources, and my university has actively provided training and opportunities for educating oneself. Still, it was personally “easier” for me over the years to actively address the Climate Crisis than to have Black Lives Matter be my cause. There were too many issues to fit on one protest sign, and not enough hours in the teaching days and weeks to address my chosen infused topic and still address the content of the actual hands-on courses. In whatever our professions, we juggle and bumble and do the best we can as we are also growing, simultaneously trying to inspire others by our own behavior. We want to be the change we wish to see.

Through others I learned of Peggy McIntosh’s 1988 essay, White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack. She powerfully bridged the feminist concept of male privilege to that of white privilege, including a list of 50 ways in which she recognized her own privilege. One friend is an active part of the Baltimore Cease Fire movement. She goes with a group to the neighborhood of every death due to gun violence and serves as a silent witness and open ear in an effort to help absorb the pain of those who experienced the personal losses. The amazing artist whose work I learned about at an exhibit at Julio Art Gallery, Loyola University Maryland, Tawny Chatmon, is one of the Instagram artists who are offering ways to help. From her site (@tawnychatmon) she linked ten suggested action items that people can do in honor of Breonna Taylor’s birthday, which would have been June 5. (#BirthdayForBreonna) †Last week a friend shared a beautiful prayer written by Dr. Yolanda Pierce, Dean of Howard University School of Divinity, that was read aloud at a virtual prayer service held at Loyola. A Litany For Those Not Ready For Healing is included within the JesuitResource website.

My humble offering in this post is music. Music has always been a deeply important and inspiring part of my life, and personal soundtracks have run throughout it. Despite the tragedies that occurred throughout the last several decades, I feel fortunate for having grown up in the time into which I was born and to have lived to see the day when there feels to be a ground-swelling of growth and change that I believe will take hold this time. New generations have joined the movements that began with their parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles who protested about injustices of all kinds and about dire concerns for the health of our one planet. For the first time in this pandemic I am beginning to feel hopeful for a future in which humans have acknowledged and acted upon the ultimate Wake Up calls.

With joy I began a soundtrack for now, scratching the surface of and selecting from songs I’ve compiled over several years on my Pinterest board Favorite Musicians – Old School.* I’ve gingerly shared a few with students who did not know much about previous eras, but freely open the floodgate now. Forewarned – interestingly, (appropriately) on You Tube some of them are now preceded with an ad for Joe Biden for President.

*I had to include Patti Smith, however, although she is certainly not Old School! I believe she turned the tide of popular music in the 1970s that opened the door to the present, influencing and thus bringing strong women into full presence within the industry.

• Respect Yourself, The Staple Singers
• Something in the Air, Thunderclap Newman, 1969
• Get Up, Stand Up, Bob Marley, 1980, live in Munich
• Don’t Let Me Be Misundertood, Bennie Benjamin, Horace Ott and Sol Marcus, written for Nina Simone, 1964
• Lay Down (Candles in the Rain), Melanie, 1970, performed with the Edwin Hawkins Singers
• Stand! Sly & The Family Stone, 1974 on the Mike Douglas Show
• Society’s Child, Janis Ian, 1967 on The Smothers Brothers
• A Change Is Gonna Come, Sam Cooke, 1963
• What’s Going On, Marvin Gaye
• Time Has Come Today, Chambers Brothers
• You Can Get It If You Really Want, Jimmy Cliff, 1972
• Oye Como Va, Santana
• Nature’s Way, Spirit
• Ohio, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, 1970
• Fortunate Son, Creedence Clearwater Revival
• O-o-h Child, The Five Stairsteps (1970, on Soul Train)
• For What It’s Worth, Buffalo Springfield, 1967
• Don’t Let It Bring You Down, Neil Young (BBC, 1971)
• ††Southern Man, Neil Young (how could I forget this!?!) 2. 3.
• Eve of Destruction, P.F. Sloan, performed by Barry McGuire
• Share the Land, The Guess Who
• Us and Them, Pink Floyd, 1973
• Indian Reservation, Paul Revere and the Raiders
• I’d Love to Change the World, Ten Years After (with an intro by Alvin Lee) 1.  2.
• Instant Karma, John Lennon (w/the Plastic Ono Band)
• People Have the Power, Patti Smith

Stay safe and well. May we listen to and amplify melanated voices and educate ourselves toward a beautiful future.

©2020 Janet Maher