Say Their Names

August 25, 2020

Seattle, WA

Say his name: Jacob Blake. Still fighting for his life after being shot in the back seven times by a patrol officer in Kenosha,WI. In front of his children. This is indefensible.

So, for this day, I’ve chosen to research the policies around racial injustice of the two political parties in our country.

The Republican Party does not have a 2020 platform, so one must turn to their 2016 platform. (To be clear, this is not 2016 and it would be a sign of leadership for a party to have a platform, nevertheless…) The Republican Party in their 2016 platform does not mention or address the racial injustices and inequities in our country. There is literally no mention of this.

In its 2020 platform the Democratic Party devotes an entire section to the topic. “Achieving Racial Justice and Equity” offering a clear path forward while acknowledging the burden of responsibility we all bear. In addition to examining our history, the movement into the future is a reason for hope in this robust section of the 2020 DNC platform.

But.

But here’s all I can think about tonight. Each of the people whose names we say has a story. They have a story of their childhoods and who they were as teenagers and what dreams they held close to their hearts. None of those dreams will come true. They didn’t stand a chance because of the color of their skin. Nothing more. The beautiful black and brown color of their skin.

I wish that I might have known them. I wish that I might have had the chance to sit with them and hear their hopes and dreams. But those are selfish, privileged wishes. So more than

anything, I wish they’d had a chance to realize their dreams. Not for my sake but only for theirs and those who loved them. Their mothers who birthed them into the world. Fathers and siblings and aunties and uncles and friends and neighborhoods and churches.

In November I will cast my vote for a party who cares that those who follow them have that chance.