Immediately upon the murder of George Floyd, I made a bumper sticker from printer paper and shipping tape that I stuck to my car, alongside equality and justice stickers. It read, “END WHITE SUPREMACY.” It was getting crinkly but still stuck tightly, and I knew I’d have to work to work it off to make a fresh one.
Surprisingly, a few days ago, I noticed someone made an apparent effort to tear it off straight down its middle. It could have happened anywhere I’ve been recently: the place where I had my tires replaced, the grocery store, a home improvement store, the pharmacy, or somewhere else.
My mom’s best friend was Jewish, and her daughter was my friend; they lost family in the Holocaust. My son’s girlfriend is African American. My second child is gay. I am French, Irish, Christian, and white.
The first signs of the human race came from Africa. Each person can be traced to there. As for the Garden of Eden, the Bible seems to pin it somewhere in the Middle East; I would contest there are minimal fair-skinned, blond, blue-eyed people there.
To assume God or nature would make you a certain extra-special skin tone is simply illogical. You may as well discriminate against redheads, brunettes, those with curly hair, or others — perhaps to the point of killing to maintain an ill-gotten idea of purity and supremacy?
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“End white supremacy” absolutely does not mean “end white people.” Why would I, a white woman, have that on my vehicle? My bumper sticker meant that the color of your skin does not make you supreme. You are an accident of birth, just like the rest of us.
Love one another. Be more than a skin color.
I will remake my bumper sticker.
Mary F. Lee
Duluth
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