Heavy Boots

by Ashley Weeks Cart

We need enormous pockets, pockets big enough for our families and our friends, and even the people who aren’t on our lists, people we’ve never met but still want to protect. We need pockets for boroughs and for cities, a pocket that could hold the universe.

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer

Today, I wear heavy boots.

White privilege is me feeling enraged and disappointed at the news from Ferguson rather than utterly terrified. White privilege is me being able to parent my children without fear that they will be hurt or killed due to the color of their skin while many loved ones and fellow parents don’t have such a privilege. We deserve freedom from violence. ALL OF US.

Related: This is a useful, accessible way to understand privilege for those that may question my use of that word.

I am raising my voice because I refuse to reinforce this epidemic of silence that keeps our society functioning under these racist, patriarchal structures. Please raise yours, too.