Demonstration provides chance to communicate

To the editor:

My daughter and I demonstrated at the courthouse in Portland on Friday, June 5.

We demonstrated in support of those who are peacefully protesting racial discrimination and social injustice. I demonstrated by myself on Saturday, June 13.

I will continue to demonstrate as regularly as possible because this can’t be a one-time thing. It’s not fair to those who have endured the evils of discrimination and to those who have worked so hard for social equality over time.

(Note that for me, this is not a personal vendetta about the Portland Police Department. I want to give special thanks to Police Chief Nathan Springer. When I talked to him on the prior Thursday about demonstrating, he was entirely supportive. He offered any assistance I needed, gave me his number and even stopped by to introduce himself on Friday. He is a very fine man.)

Our demonstrations are in protest of the undeniable racism and social injustices that exist in our country today — long after a war was fought to move us past that.

Racism can be casual, so ingrained that we don’t even notice it. It can be a Confederate flag less than one block from your residence that prompts your child to say, “Dad, why do people fly the Confederate flag?” How do you answer that?

Remember that the Civil War, fought primarily to allow the Confederacy to keep slavery (through their state rights), resulted in the deaths of 620,000 Americans.

It can be a house listing that says, “This is what you call a ‘Bible Belt,’ God-fearing & loving mostly white folks” and “you’re not going to get ANY ‘riff-raffs’ here as this is a religiously white working-class township.” (That is a direct quote from a listing on Zillow for a house in Pennville, by the way. I am looking to buy a house in the area and found that.)

Our demonstrations aren’t to say that all law enforcement officers are bad, that only black lives matter or that white privilege means that white Americans are born with a silver spoon.

It’s to say that we all have to quit denying the facts and admit that there are issues.

When you wear a ribbon in support of breast cancer survivors. you aren’t saying that other cancers (or illnesses) don’t matter. You are pointing out that this particular cancer is quite an issue and needs some serious attention.

White privilege is what Tom Herman, UT Head Coach described when talking about many of the black athletes on this team: “When I make an illegal U-turn and get pulled over, I fear about what the cost of the ticket is going to be. I do not fear that I am going to get dragged out of my car and maybe killed because of something I said or did. And that’s real for them.”

I realize that this may not apply everywhere. However, the fact that it applies somewhere because of a person’s skin color should worry and concern AND unite all of us.

When I demonstrated on June 13, a man stopped by and we talked for about 15 minutes.

He asked me why it was about “Black Lives Matter” — why not “All Lives Matter.” I explained to him what I put up above and he said that he had never thought of it that way.

He said that he figured many people haven’t. It was a great conversation and I listened to him and he listened to me.

While we disagreed on standing/kneeling during the National Anthem (is it or is it not about the flag — I obviously feel that it isn’t and I am a veteran, one who fought in a war), I feel that he understands better now about why we say “Black Lives Matter” and better what “white privilege” means.

Our time together justified for me, the need and reward of demonstrating.

Much obliged,

Craig Ragland

Portland