The Capitol Coup: Questions to Face

This is not a “statement”.

You don’t need another statement.

At IISC, we’re asking ourselves some hard questions. Are we maintaining the status quo or  breaking it? If we are alive in times like this, what are we living for? And whatever that is, we better make it worth it. Because this country has been presented with a mirror and what we see is our ugly reflection, and the choices we now make will have life and death consequences.

So we feel it’s right, and necessary, to ask the hard questions, The questions are rhetorical, but hey, why not, since we’re all talking and trying to be brave.

• If we don’t ask for and expect this President’s immediate removal,
  what are we sanctioning?

• If you lost steam for the fight for racial justice that rose up last summer, or if you went back to business as usual after George Floyd died, why is that? 
  Do you realize that racism is always awake even when you’re sleeping?

• If you’re shocked about the attempted takeover of our Capitol and country,
  have you accepted that white supremacy isn’t just present in those that stormed the doors, but are also inside government institutions and within our own elected officials?

• If you think diversity training and simple “DEI” initiatives are enough to dismantle structural racism, think again!
  How can you begin to shift your focus to dismantling structural racism?

• If you think you aren’t complicit with racism, ask yourself,
  “am I too comfortable?”

Yesterday was an epic system failure (or, from another perspective, it’s the system working as it was designed to work), born out of relentless racism, white domination, and male violent entitlement. It’s not extremist. It’s not an aberration. It’s America. If you’re numb or checked out, wake up. If you’re shocked, don’t think more shock isn’t coming. You may feel pain, but that exists for a reason. The pain tells you that you’re alive and alert. We may be striving to do the right thing, but playing it safe is not an option during a 24-7 assault on our humanhood.

Safe is “we can do this later.”

Safe is “someone else will take care of this.” 

Safe is “we can talk about ‘equity’ without being laser-focused on tearing down racism.”

Safe is “we can avoid struggle, hard truths and conversations, and real work.”

Safe is downright dangerous.