I’m reflecting on a sign I photographed in Tacoma.
It’s a perfect accompaniment to several recent conversations I’ve had and heard, about why BIPOC folk are disinclined to follow accepted rules of civility in claiming their due.
White People: If you would just show up acting more like educated white people, you’d have an equal chance to get a seat at the table.
Blacks, Indigenous, and Persons of Color: You take our land, you break up our families, you deprive us of education. By what logic should we now grant the thieves of land, people, and resources the entitlement to direct the process of deciding what constitutes fairness and civility in exchanges among “free” people?