First, via Longreads, Wesley Lowrey’s sweeping essay on “Why Minneapolis Was the Breaking Point.”
And, from Fr. Bryan Massingale at Fordham, an excruciating examination of “The Assumptions of White Privilege and What We Can Do About It.”
Both essays point, as Dr. King did long ago, to the mutuality of destiny, and the need to set each other free. As with so much contemporary writing, they make clear that white folks have the key. Forgiveness might still be possible, but we’re going to have to really work for justice first.
A tall order, to be sure, but, writes Fr. Massingale, “As James Baldwin believed, despair is an option that only the comfortable can afford to entertain.”
Colin Steele 