We must reach out even if it is uncomfortable. It needs to happen. It might be a tenuous connection, if any connection at all, but would be a start. I, for example, buy the street roots publication from every vendor I encounter, even if I end up with multiples of the same issue. That dollar is not what it’s about, but the looking in the face and talking to someone who is having harder times than you are.  I roll down my window and give 25 ç to any homeless vet at the traffic light. Just to t a l k to them and not avert my gaze.

We had dinner this week with Republican acquaintances. Wondering how to broach topics and learn about a diametrically opposed world view. Did not discuss politics, mind you, but kept a door open to learn more about the why’s at a later point in time. Hopefully.

I photographed the MLK middle school music performance at Jefferson High School this week as well. The adult drummers are friends from my other volunteer gig and had asked me to help out. I had little light to work with and so yelled at Hakim “Don’t move!” in order to get a focused picture. The immediate reaction: “Woman, don’t you ever say those words to a Black man.” I wanted to collapse with embarrassment right then and there. I never think about what the police would say to me, or someone holding me up on the street.  Missteps will happen, we will all put our foot in our mouth at times, but that should not keep us from forming connections that stretch our narrow horizon.

Samara, the 13 year-old who sat next to me before the performance, spontaneously offered me a list of her strengths after a bit of conversation. She could dance, sing, be patient for the three days it took to braid her hair and she always saved up her snacks to bring to school, because so many of her friends were really hungry. Again, I felt uncomfortably ashamed. When have I last gone hungry?

Which one of them is food insecure?

What I am really saying here is that it is easier to remain in our white middle-class bubble, but leaving it is what matters to create new alliances. If I can do it, anyone can do it – Forge some new connections!  And now I am disconnecting my brain for the weekend. It’s been a long week.