Kimberly Miller: I’m Black. My Mother Is White. This Is The Talk We Had To Have About George Floyd’s Killing
My mother is white. I
am mixed race. A lifetime of growing up as her Black daughter has taught me
that I can’t always count on her understanding. As events unfolded in my
hometown of Minneapolis, a similar theme played out in many of my
conversations, and it’s made me realize that my relationship with my mother is
a microcosm of the relationship that most Black Americans have with white
Americans.
From the first moment
I watched the video of Floyd’s killing, I felt fear, anger, outrage and
terror because I saw myself under attack. My mother felt sympathy. She felt sad
for “them” - Floyd and other Black people killed in recent years by cops
― not fear for her own safety. Even though she was married to a
black man and has two mixed-race children, she has never lost her ability to
distance herself.
I’m nearly 60 years
old, but even today my mother has a hard time accepting for what it is the
racism I experience. When I bring it up, her first reaction, like so many
other white people’s, is often to question me. “Why do you say racist?” she
asks. “Are you sure that’s what they meant?” It is hard work to get her to see
the world through my eyes, even when the facts are staring her right in the
face ― or in the neighborhood where we both lived.
I grew up just around
the corner from where Floyd died. I spent much of my childhood waiting for
buses with my mother at the very same intersection where millions of people
have now watched videos showing the life drain right out of him as a white
police officer’s knee pressed against his neck. In the six years I’ve been back
in Minnesota, a similar killing has occurred almost annually. I’ve been
outraged every time. But the brutality of this death terrorized me... read more:
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/im-black-my-mom-is-white-conversation-george-floyd_n_5ed7afc8c5b64f9fd62e9e58Protests in USA over the death of unarmed black man George Floyd at the hands of police - 25 cities have imposed curfews
