Gay, R. (2020, June 20). How We Save Ourselves. The New York Times.

Retrieved from
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/20/opinion/how-we-fight-racism.html

How We Save Ourselves

I want this time to be different and there are moments when I think it
might be.

By Roxane Gay <https://www.nytimes.com/column/roxane-gay>

Contributing Opinion Writer.

June 20, 2020

A new street sign at the intersection of H and 16th Street, near the White
House in Washington.
Roberto Schmidt/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Corporations finally believe black lives matter. Or they at least

understand that they have to make it look like they believe black lives
matter.

From Microsoft and Peloton to the National Football League — the same
league whose teams shunned Colin Kaepernick after his peaceful protest
— they have released carefully crafted messages affirming that they are
committed to diversity and inclusion, that they stand in solidarity with
their black employees. You can ask Amazon’s virtual assistant Alexa if
black lives matter and she will respond <https://www.cnet.com/news/alexa-siri-
and-google-assistant-support-black-lives-matter/>, “Black lives matter. I believe in
racial equality.”

This messaging is curious. There have been several incidents of police

brutality in recent years and, back then, the response from corporate
America was nothing like this. This time, for some reason, executives
seem to have decided that their brands will be best supported by
engaging in an elaborate performance of allyship.

Several companies are making significant financial contributions

<https://www.ft.com/content/5a83fcff-9def-4a66-b65d-2b030759f755> and other
gestures. YouTube has established a $100 million fund <https://variety.com
/2020/digital/news/youtube-100-million-fund-black-creators-artists-common-keke-palmer-
1234631840/> for black creators. Walmart and its foundation have said they
will spend $100 million <https://corporate.walmart.com/equity> on the creation
of a racial equity center. Several companies, including Apple, Coca-Cola
and Citi National Bank, have donated to the Equal Justice Initiative.
Amazon will not allow <https://blog.aboutamazon.com/policy/we-are-
implementing-a-one-year-moratorium-on-police-use-of-rekognition?ots=1&
tag=curbedcom06-20&linkCode=w50> police departments to use its
Rekognition software for a year. Both “Cops <https://www.nytimes.com
/2020/06/09/business/media/cops-canceled-paramount-tv-show.html>” and “Live PD
<https://deadline.com/2020/06/live-pd-canceled-ae-protests-against-police-brutality-
george-floyd-1202956175/>” have been canceled by their networks. And after
more than 15 years, ABC’s “The Bachelor” will finally have a black
bachelor, Matt James <https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/abc-names-
matt-james-as-first-black-bachelor-1297996>.

A great many things that were supposedly impossible have suddenly

become priorities. It’s a bittersweet moment because we always knew
change was possible. The world just didn’t want to do the work.

Each time there is a horrifying racist incident, I wonder whether things

will actually be different. For a short while people say the right things.
They lament racism. They mourn the black person who has died at the
hands of unchecked police officers or white vigilantes. They vow to be
part of the necessary change. They ask, earnestly, what they can do to
create such change. And then they return to their lives. Public
enthusiasm for addressing police brutality has to wait until another
black life is prematurely lost to racism.

Kevin Peterson, a speaker at a rally in Boston, holding a picture of

 Breonna Taylor on Thursday.
Steven Senne/Associated Press

I want this time to be different. I need this time to be different. There has
never been more public support for contending with systemic racism
and reimagining law enforcement. The Los Angeles Police Department
commission recently held a virtual public meeting where hundreds
<https://ktla.com/news/local-news/l-a-police-commission-holds-1st-meeting-since-
protests-started-across-the-city/> of Angelenos spoke — first for two minutes
at a time, then a minute and then 30 seconds as the commission tried to
accommodate everyone. It took hours.

It was cathartic to see nearly every person who took their time at the
microphone castigate the police department for their violent tactics
against protesters, their bloated budgets subsidized by taxpayers, their
militarized tactics and their general incompetence. People were
legitimately angry and demanded more from public servants.
Throughout the proceedings — which the police chief, Michel Moore,
attended — the commissioners looked by turns bored, indifferent,
annoyed and frustrated. There was no gesture to acknowledge the public
frustration. They did not behave like people who were at all willing to
rethink how to do their jobs.

If you had asked me, before George Floyd’s killing, if I believed in police
abolition I would have said that reform is desperately needed but that
abolition was a bridge too far. I lacked imagination. I could not envision a
world where we did not need law enforcement as it is presently
configured. I am ashamed. Now I know we don’t need reform. We need
something far more radical. The current system does not work. Even
during protests against the current system, law enforcement officers
largely behaved as they always do, with blunt force and apparent
indifference to the safety of protesters. They believe they are righteous.
Burn it all down and build something new in the ashes.

Defund The Police painted on 16th Street near the White House in
Washington, DC.
Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images

I want this time to be different and there are moments when I think it
might be. While I don’t believe the ubiquitous corporate statements on
diversity are sincere, it is at least good to see that these companies are
aware that something has to change. But then you look at the executive
leadership of these companies. You look at their boards of directors. You
look at the demographic makeup of their work force. More often than
not, they lack any real diversity. They have no black executives. Their
black employees are miserable.

In the wake of some of these corporate statements, employees have

pushed back. They have described “toxic” workplaces
<https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/11/media/refinery29-workplace-culture/index.html>,
abusive co-workers, racist founders <https://www.teenvogue.com/story
/reformation-founder-yael-aflalo-apologizes-for-past-racist-behavior>, unchecked
bigotry, pay inequities <https://www.vox.com/the-goods/21287732/bon-appetit-
sohla-adam-rapoport-resigned-duckor-food-racism> and more. We know racism is
a virulent cancer — but it is increasingly clear we have grossly
underestimated the extent of the rot.

Sacrificial lambs have tendered letters of resignation. They have

apologized for the damaging work environments they have created and
nurtured. But in most instances, the offenders will likely be replaced by
people who will repeat the toxic patterns. They will continue to enjoy
their wealth without being forced to truly reckon with their racist
ideologies.

Something about this moment feels different, but I am not sure anyone
knows how to move forward in ways that will effectively eradicate
racism once and for all. I am not sure that the people who most need to
do that difficult work have any incentive to change.

It is clear no one is coming to save us, but we can and will save
ourselves. We will do so by relentlessly continuing to protest and
remembering that the anger fueling the protests is entirely justified. We
will do so by tearing down statues of Confederate soldiers, captains of
slave ships, colonizers and anyone else who rose to prominence on the
backs of black or Indigenous suffering.

We will save ourselves by holding people and corporations accountable

for how they value black lives when they are beyond the glare of public
opinion. There has to be more than crafted statements about equality.
We all have to challenge ourselves. We have to consider ideas that
previously seemed impossible. We have to take risks and make
ourselves uncomfortable. We need to continue talking about all of the
ways racism influences our lives.

We are on the precipice of change. Public opinion is, at last, shifting. But
even with the force of public outrage, there are crystal-clear reminders
of what we are up against. The incident report <https://www.cbsnews.com
/news/louisville-police-breonna-taylor-death-incident-report/> for Breonna Taylor’s
killing by Louisville police officers was nearly blank when it was
released, nearly three months after her death. One of the officers
involved has been fired but none of them have been charged with a
crime, more than three months after Ms. Taylor’s death. The sham of a
police report was a pointed message: Police officers can get away with
killing people and there’s little the public can do about it.

If a change is indeed coming, we have not yet seen the shape of it — and
the enemy we are facing is powerful beyond measure. Understanding
this truth and persisting nonetheless is how we will save ourselves.

Roxane Gay (@rgay <https://twitter.com/rgay>) is a contributing Opinion writer.

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Correction: June 20, 2020

An earlier version of this essay misspelled the given name of the Los
Angeles police chief. He is Michel Moore, not Michael.