my white, privileged letter to Love / no.2
Dear Love,
“A MAN WAS LYNCHED BY POLICE YESTERDAY”
These words in a banner were the first thing I saw as soon as I entered the museum's premises. Do you remember this? I think it was 2017 when you took me to the Whitney Museum in New York. Deep inside, I questioned whether this flag was part of the exhibition or not. I wasn’t sure you see. I am white and privileged. I noticed the wording: “A MAN” – not a black man, not a white man. A MAN. A man was lynched. Does it matter whether it was black, white, Asian, or Latino? Clearly, yes.
Can you recall how much riveted I was by it? I wanted to know more. I couldn’t resonate with it. The police have never lynched me. I am white and privileged, you see. You told me that between 1920 to 1938, the NAACP flew a similar flag outside its headquarters on 5th Ave. Black people were murdered at the time, by mobs. Dread Scott updated this flag because of the murder of Walter Scott by a North Charleston officer. It was a protest against the constant racial violence. I have never felt threatened because of the colour of my skin. I have never thought that the police can kill me for no reason whatsoever. I am white and privileged, you see.
I had a dream last night. It was you, Dread Scott, and me in Terra Blues Bar in New York. We were discussing his eponymous words on that flag. About police brutality. About violence. About racial discrimination. Racism. The past sets the stage for the present, and it scares me. The past exists in the present, too, but in a new form.
It’s May, and its 2020, but read this and repeat after me:
“GEORGE FLOYD WAS LYNCHED BY POLICE YESTERDAY”
I did not watch the video, but I did stare at the image of a police officer’s knee on Floyd’s neck. I contributed to the voyeurism, Love. I feel terrible; I don’t have the stomach anymore. I read somewhere that his white privileged knee remained there (on his neck) for over 5 minutes and then he died. His last words were: "I CAN'T BREATHE." White supremacy did not grant any dignity to his last words. Can you imagine? What is wrong with these people, Love? Wasn’t he worthy of basic decency, Love? The police were responding to the suspicion of a forgery, they said. If this video did not exist, what would the public have said? Would black life matter to them? Would it go down in history as a response to potential threats or terrorism from a black person? Would justice serve its role? Will justice serve its purpose? Or will these police officers receive another trophy from the people that want to make America great again? Who are they fooling, Love? Come on. It was never really great, to begin with. America carries a hurtful past infused with ordeals and blood. People’s blood.
I believe in protest, Love. I feel that people, albeit their hectic routines, can still protest through writing, activism, food intake choices, refusing to participate in discussions, showing intolerance to injustices, and refusing to buy their food or coffee from certain places. They can protest through their choices. Let’s do that too, Love. Let’s be anti-racist. In every corner of the world, in every street, in every classroom, in every discussion.
Repeat after me: I will make it a lifelong purpose, even if I am white, and privileged: to articulate and transcend history, or even put it in the service of education. Zero tolerance to this, even if it’s in Minnesota, Charlottesville, London, Paris, Athens, or Cyprus. Racism speaks the same language in every single part of the world. To all the George Floyd’s out there. I can’t breathe either, and I am white and privileged. I will stop here.
Love you, Love. Speak to you soon, when I am no longer angry (as if that will ever happen).
Yours forever and eternally,
Vasileia
A Man Was Lynched by Police Yesterday
2015