Upstanders and anti-racism

Do you see yourself in this image?
Of course you weren't literally in Marion, Indiana, in 1930 when two young black men were lynched and the life of a third, James Cameron, was spared. 
You could never imagine posing for a picture holding your date's hand just steps from two lynching victims, I hope.
You would never participate in a lynching or be drawn to the scene, as thousands were this night in a quiet midwestern town.

But aren't we in this picture? Every time we fail to stand up for others?
Every time we choose not to be anti-racist and defend racist policies and violence against people of color aren't we more than bystanders? We're part of the problem. We are supporting the structural racism that claims the lives of others but protects us.

I always tell James Cameron's story in my 8th grade social studies class but this year I could not. I firmly believe that every student should learn about America's disgraceful racist history and lynching is a misunderstood but incredibly important piece of understanding that history. This is a lesson that requires background knowledge, care and nuance and it was not appropriate for distance learning.
 But the story is so important!
It's impossible to put ourselves in the shoes of 16-year-old James Cameron, who was terrified, waiting in his jail cell. He saw his two friends dragged away by an angry mob and violently executed. He pleaded for his life. He looked into the faces of the crowd. Many were people he knew. None stood up for him or stopped the violence but some how Jim's life was spared. He remembered a voice saying something on his behalf. The noose was removed from his neck and he was returned to jail.

I ask my students to put themselves in Jim's shoes. After going on to serve time in jail, what would they do?

James Cameron continued to fight for civil rights and against hate and injustice. He stood up to the Ku Klux Klan. He founded the America's Black Holocaust Museum in Milwaukee and never gave up.

He was an upstander.

We can be upstanders.

You are in that photo above. It was in the hot summer of 1930- the very beginning of a great global depression that had everyone on edge and scared.

2020 is a different time but there is so much fear. So much anger.
But also so much possibility to get it right moving forward.
Do not ignore black lives. They matter. 
Black voices matter.
Black pain matters.
Black anger matters.
​Black lives matter.