Black History Month 2021
How We Prove Black Lives Matter
I firmly believe that perhaps the most important way to celebrate Black History Month is to secure Black futures. I grew up in poverty, I remember listening to my parents try to figure out where our next meal was coming from. Several of my earliest memories are of sitting on the dirty beige bedroom carpet (because we didn’t own a vacuum) listening through paper thin walls while my parents yelled at each other about not having enough money for food and rent.
In my teens, at the cheapest grocery store in town, my tiny mother would fidget with her food stamps, trying to keep them hidden from the people behind us in line. I would try to stand to her side, so the shoppers behind us couldn’t see what was happening.
The first time we kids followed our mom into the food pantry in North Portland, we were excited. The inconspicuous building was about the size of a convenience store, with old beige and black flecked linoleum. The walls were a weird mint green color which made the low ceilings covered in fluorescent lighting seem harsh. Mom told us we could each choose one food item, and then walked away to look at the offerings. We kids knew better than to make a scene but I excitedly whispered to my sisters that all of this good food was FREE.
One stormy, dark Christmas week, there was a knock at the door of our tiny duplex. A stranger stood in the doorway, with arms full of presents. Five sets of dark brown eyes watched as several armloads of presents came in. When Christmas rolled around, the five of us woke up with bright eyes and puffy hair, and raced up the stairs. All of our gifts were from the stranger in the doorway.
That evening, full to bursting with spiced cider, in my ratty old footsie pajamas with holes in the toes, I made a promise to God that if I ever got the opportunity, I would be that stranger in the entry.
Even a little bit of breathing room is a gamechanger for a family that has lived for years or decades trying to scrape by. I know firsthand the massive difference that one stranger can make in the life of a family. I also know that, as the African proverb says, we can go farther together than we could ever go alone. The parable of the man on the beach covered in starfish applies: we can’t save everyone but we can certainly save some.
And that matters.
Black lives matter.
But it is incumbent on all of us to embody the truth of that statement.
Head over to Pay The Rent Club on my patreon. We are paying the rent for a multigenerational Black family for a year. It’s a brutal time for all of us, so if you have the means, please consider chipping in. Every little bit helps.