“The trouble with rights is that they don’t always apply to everyone equally. The idea that they do is a mere fiction, and a fiction that serves the interests of the dominant classes in society.”

Just when White America is starting to wake up to its privilege, to its complicity, and yes, to its guilt and shame, voices on the Left are calling us away from a race-centered analysis.

What should be clear to all citizens who believe in the promises encapsulated in the Bill of Rights is that those rights are under direct assault. We cannot let the power structure define when, where, and how we exercise our rights.

My responsibility is not to tell Black people how to protest. My responsibility is to tell white spiritual people that, when we say things like this, we are assholes.

Sojourner Truth, come lead us please,

Out of the dark canyon of fear.

We are beset by enemies,

We want you for our brigadier.

“Rather than running off as the police intended, the protesters stood their ground. When they were forced back by tear gas, they advanced again as soon as it cleared. They reclaimed ground repeatedly, and it took the police more than an hour to drive them back. This was only the beginning...”

Solidarity is not the same as this insane movement of taking photos with the donation of a food aid basket and leaving the subject served by this charity for the flies.

This is the reality of the War on Drugs; it is thinly veiled, and sometimes not, racism.

We’re all in a building that’s on fire, and most of us are wearing blindfolds. Spiritual practice helps us take the blindfold off. We’re still in the building, but if we can see, there’s more we can do.