When the fullness of time had come...

What a time to be alive. It’s only June (almost). I thought long and hard about how to put the myriad of thoughts in my head into some kind of coherent format for reading. As much as I wanted this to be a well written and formatted think-piece, this may just turn into one very long list of my thoughts. Hopefully by the end of this you have figured out the meaning of the title.

  1. Let’s just start by saying that I am exhausted, and the tone of this will reflect that. I am not apologetic.

  2. I will not give our peers with less melanin kudos for [finally] doing what is right. Please, do not point out that “every such and such” are not the issue. Just like every black man/woman isn’t a threat but y’all keep killing us anyway. Save it. Yes, this is a race issue.

  3. I thought pro- life meant protection of all life? crickets

  4. There is a right side. This is not the time to ride the fence. I do not believe that you can be passionate about something and not speak out on it. I am not however, regulating the time at which you do so, however, if that time doesn’t come, you may want to check yourself.

  5. Pay attention to how your places of worship handle whats going on right now. It may be time for some of you to seek new leadership. I’d be very interested at what these influencer churches that only seem to discuss relationships have to say right now.

  6. Read the Old Testament. Yes, God is a God of love, peace, and all that jazz. However, He is also a God of justice. Lets go back to the account of Moses. God sent some pretty horrible plagues, and wiped out the entire Egyptian army when they tried to go after the Hebrews after the parting of the Red Sea.

  7. Regardless of my feelings for Kayne, he said it best “Even if you in a Benz, you still a [redacted] in a coupe.”

  8. Fire is catching. You can either run with it, or be burned by it.

  9. 1619, the first slaves were brought over to Jamestown. It’s now 2020, about 400 years (give a year) from the event. Sorta mirrors the 400 years that the Hebrews were in captivity. Coincidence? Maybe. One of my favorite lines in the Bible is “…when the fullness of time had come.” It refers to the moment when God would redeem mankind. I’d like to think of this as that time for race relations. The fullness of time has come. It is here.

So, what can you do?

  1. Check yourself. If you’ve got biases, it’s time to fix those. Check your friends, check your family. Again, no fence riding.

  2. Be careful Let’s face it, COVID hasn’t gone anywhere, so if you’re going into the field make sure you’re prepared.

  3. Donate to reputable foundations. Send money for bail funds. It’s time to put our money where our mouth is.

  4. SHOP BLACK. Now isn’t the time to bring up excuses about high prices, customer service, or whatever else. If I remember correctly Chipotle gave y’all E. Coli and 2 weeks later everybody was back. If you need a place to start, here is a fantastic list of black businesses (and if you have one you can add it there as well.)

  5. Use your voice. It’s free.

  6. Read the room. Y’all know what that means.

  7. The Bible tells us to watch as well as pray. Be vigilant. But do something.

Let me end this by saying I in no way consider myself an expert on race relations, and I certainly hope I don’t come off this way. I am however a tired black woman who refuses to let the fear of losing friends, associates, or whoever keep me from speaking up and doing what is right. We are literally living in history, and I’d like to be able to tell my offspring I was on the right side of the fence.