A Year Without Tamir

This morning LB woke up next to me, "Mama, it's morning, it's morning." "Why don't you get up and play, I'll be up in a minute." And she did, I got up a half hour later, and she was dressed, waiting expectantly with a stuffed unicorn under her arm-only five hours early for our playdate.  I made breakfast.  I argued about the number of shows a child should watch.

What didn't I do this morning? I didn't wonder if she would be safe on our playground.  I live in the world of white mothers.

In another world, Samaria Rice should be arguing with her son about church clothes, or telling him not to eat so fast.

In this world, she is mourning a child she will never hold again.

Tamir Rice, a black child murdered on a playground by a police officer.  A family mourning.  A child buried.  But no charges. No trial.

If we don't disrupt this world, we perpetuate it.  We raise our white children to perpetuate the structures of racism, and to make the choices that leave a black child dead on a playground.

Petition: Justice for Tamir Rice

"A Bronzeville Mother Loiters in Mississippi. Meanwhile, a Mississippi Mother Burns the Bacon."

Showing Up For Racial Jusice