I was out of town for most of the last week. As the Minneapolis protests turned (yet again) to a push for substative change to the MPD I was driving to Maryland. I followed the City Council members on Twitter as they began to lay out their plan for dismantiling MPD. I was driving home yesterday as they announced their veto-proof majority in Powderhorn Park.
I am entirely in favor their plan and I’m excited to see what comes.
But…Today I noticed that I was also scared. What if my family is unsafe? What if my house value drops?
This is systematic racism in practice. This is the fear that white people have constructed for hundreds of years. The fear that if we don’t have oppression then the ‘other’ will ‘get us’! The fear that if we don’t keep them out (via deed covenants, redlining and racist loan administration) then we’ll be less valuable.
This is the system I need to dismantle. You might need to too. Our fantastic City Council can’t help us recognize and dismantle the fear that’s built in to our identities.
