My parents taught me to honor and respect all people, so I have been one of those white people who walks around saying, “I am not a racist.”
Guest columnist Natalie Romaine (“If you call yourself an ally, listen,” June 8), taught me that I actually am. Natalie said, among other salient points, that “Northampton is known to be this ‘liberal safe haven,’ people even dare to call it diverse — that is laughable.” How utterly illuminating. I am one of those people.
As a now-occasional writer for the Gazette or the Springfield Republican, I have called Northampton and this region “diverse” many times in print, as well as in conversation. Natalie forced me to think about that. How many Black people have I interacted with in this region in over three decades? How many Black friends or colleagues do I have? I can count them on my hands.
You are right, Natalie, that is absurd and audacious. We are not diverse. Bad race relations in this country — punctuated by the horrific deaths of Black men and women at the hands of police — are devastating to me. But I have done nothing or said nothing because I don’t know what to do or say. So, now, I am listening — to the Natalies, to my daughters who are activists, to authors of articles and books. I will educate myself on the other ways I am contributing to this crisis, and I will learn what I can do to be part of the solution.
Thank you, Natalie, and to the Gazette for getting me started. I invite us all to be listeners, to start with the position that we might not be right. This country is in tremendous upheaval. Americans are being pulled left and right, like children in a contentious divorce. Politically, and in terms of race relations, I’m trying to find the common, middle ground.
I invite us all to listen, to take the role of the best friend who is working to get both sides on the same page for the sake of the children. Because we are all the children.
Janice Beetle
Easthampton