Although I have been following developments in Baltimore, I haven’t said very much.
I’ve also been following the SCOTUS arguments about gay marriage, but I haven’t said much about that, either.
First of all, I’m having a little bit a deja vu about both situations — haven’t we been here before?
Secondly, and more importantly, it’s not for me to speak up about these things. If you read this blog, you know where I stand on these issues.
Black lives matter.
Love is love.
Especially in the case of what is going on in Baltimore — a city I am quite fond of, BTW — it’s not my story and MY voice that are needed.
It’s up to me to sit and listen. Really listen. Not pretend to listen until it’s my turn to speak.
Just listen.
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Dan came back from his trip to Memphis. He said the Civil Rights Museum was incredibly moving. And he also said that he has one question for people who talk about Baltimore.
“What are you doing to help? What are you doing to make it better?”
What are you doing to change things?
I think it starts with listening, instead of talking. Hear the pain and the anger. Stand witness.
I don’t know what my next steps are, personally. Find a way to be a better advocate somehow.
Sometimes I feel like President Bartlett from The West Wing.
“What’s next?”
Red Pen Mama 
Back in 1999 when the WTO protests were going on here in Seattle I worked downtown in an office building. I had to get to the bus on the other side of downtown in order to get home. Eventually the whole of downtown was shut down and I had to walk even further to get to a bus stop. It was horrible, not because of what the protesters were … uh… protesting, but because they just acted in a self-righteous manner. The whole of downtown looked like crap. I took to walking downtown to and from the bus stop with a sign that said “PICK UP YOUR TRASH” – because trashing downtown is an effective protest for trashing the planet? Too often protests seem to lose the plot. I don’t know what May Day is like in your neck of the woods, but here it results in property damage and the shut down of downtown. This year wasn’t so bad, but past years have been pretty bad.