I Need To Say Something Entirely Different to White People

At the first stop, a white man produces a roll of duct tape.  Not even kidding.  A white man, mysteriously armed with duct tape.  He passes it around and helps us tape up every single vent on the back end of the bus.  We joke about how our antics will suddenly produce a new message on the Megabus website: “New policy: no guns, knives or duct tape on board the Megabus!”  We create a scenario in which the Megabus executives are sitting in a room and one says, “What did the Negroes do?”  And another one says, “Um, Sir, they put up Duct tape all over the bus, Sir.  Covered every vent, Sir.”  We’re all laughing, snorting, clearly enjoying one another.  All but two.

A Latino couple.  They aren’t laughing at all.  They aren’t engaging.  I saw them board with their small children.  Honestly, it didn’t occur to me that they might not speak any English at all until I started speaking English at them.  I told her -in English- how I sorry I was that I don’t speak Spanish.  I told her how I took it in High School & College but that I didn’t remember even a smidge.  I told her how we are mostly just laughing about how cold we are.  I told her I wanted to be inclusive & I wished she understood the jokes.  And I wanted her to know I was sorry I couldn’t communicate with her even one little bit. She smiled. I smiled. And that’s all we could manage.

I got back to my seat and thought of my white friends -online & in person- asking me what to do about Ferguson.  “What should we do, Grace, besides retweet every doggone thing?” “I’m feeling pretty lost.”  “Where do I fit in in the midst of this?”

I’ve given some easy answers:  ‘Oh, go read Austin’s super insightful post or that plea I wrote 2 years ago calling white Christians to take racial reconciliation seriously,’ but honestly? I’ve been lazy in my response to white people because what I really need to say is something different entirely…

You can read the rest here.