Terri Lee Freeman, our 2020 Memphian of the Year, is president of the National Civil Rights Museum. Earlier this month, she was appointed executive director of the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History & Culture in Baltimore. She leaves Memphis February 3rd.
Illustration by lrvinay Singh / Dreamstime
December is always a time for us to reflect over the past 12 months. We recall the major news stories, associated pop culture, and always, always, a memorial for those we lost during the year. 2020 doesn’t need any recollection, and it will never need an introduction. I am sure there will be volumes written about this most momentous and infamous year. And while I’m sure we would all like to race past December 31st and jump into 2021 headfirst, I do believe it is worth our time to think about how 2020 may have changed our national dialogue on race.
Sure, there were other identity issues in the headlines in 2020, but the big story occurred on May 25, 2020, when America had the opportunity to watch a man’s life snuffed out because he was suspected of passing a counterfeit $20 bill and was said to be resisting arrest (except we didn’t see the resisting part, just the knee of a police officer on the neck of George Floyd).
We’ve seen Black men and women killed at the hands of police officers before, but something seemed to trigger the American psyche this time. Was it because we were living in what seemed to be a virtual reality of quarantine due to covid-19, an unseen enemy that was ravaging New York City and spreading throughout the nation like wildfire? Or was it the rapid succession of tragic events that left Black people dead or victimized — Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and Christian Cooper (the Central Park birdwatcher falsely accused of threatening a white woman).
My guess is a combination of both. No matter what it was, it pushed people to stand up and acknowledge that, yes, in fact, Black lives do matter, and Black people are treated differently by the justice system.
Protests broke out throughout the country, in major metropolitan areas and small communities where few, if any, Black people lived. Black Lives Matter, No (Know) Justice, No (Know) Peace were commonly seen posters. There was something of a show of humanity that began to occur. There was a revelation, or at least it felt like a revelation, that my well-being was contingent upon your well-being. Even major corporations were compelled to make statements confirming the continuing issue of inequality facing Black people and people of color. Sometimes those statements were direct, others were innocuous at best, but the statement was made, nonetheless.
Athletes and sports franchises made statements and changes. The NFL commissioner said he should have listened to Colin Kaepernick. NASCAR said “no” to the confederate flag. The NBA, WNBA, and USSF stood in solidarity against racism and police brutality. Organizations of all types were practically falling over each other to post their sentiments about issues of race. The state of Mississippi even elected to change the design of its state flag, eliminating the bars and stars from its design.
Two of the year’s top selling books were White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DeAngelo and How to be An Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi. The National Civil Rights Museum hosted a webinar on White fragility — more than 600 people signed up to attend the Zoom webinar. And attendees flooded the museum to get a seat at our book talk with Kendi (pre-covid-19).
In many ways, 2020 felt like a beginning ... a beginning of a new civil rights movement. A beginning of a new multi-racial, -ethnic, and -generational coalition to make right the historic wrongs of our nation. It seemed like 2020 was making the statement “we are all in this together.”
But that was this summer and not much has changed. More Black men have been killed at the hands of those who took an oath to protect and serve. No one was charged with the murder of Breonna Taylor. Violence in our cities has skyrocketed. The peaceful protests have themselves become a target of counter-protests and government and military intervention. And, at this writing, nearly a quarter-million Americans have died from covid-19.
2020 has been exhausting for sure, but we can’t afford to hibernate or have our voices muted. If we want 2021 to look differently, and if we want peace on earth this holiday season, we should consider the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. when he warned of an obnoxious peace. For “peace,” he said, “is not merely the absence of some negative force ... but it is the presence of some positive force.” I believe we the people are that positive force.
So, let us not forget what 2020 presented us and let us push forward into a 2021 that promises both justice and peace.
