Black Lives Matter

My Quilt Part 2

Bev Ryan made me a quilt. It is a beautiful thing with twelve of my favorite all-time t-shirts set in a gold-flecked blue background. As I look at it, I can see that it in one way tells the story of my life. I was a t-shirt collector for several decades. When the shirts wore out, I replaced them with solid black t’s and Charlene commissioned Bev to make the quilt as a thank you for my help formatting her new book and getting all the pictures in the right places: See it here: Roberta

That leaves me with an opportunity to write a short piece about each shirt on the quilt. I already started with my blog last November called Stand in the Gap.

If I am to move left to right, top to bottom, today’s story is about my Black Lives Matter

shirt. I bought it at the Black Lives Matter booth at the Minnesota State Fair. Charlene and I spent a few minutes there talking with a courteous young man who was staffing the booth. 

The slogan grew from a series of young Black men who were shot and killed by police officers across the country. Please understand that I have a son who is a Saint Paul Police Officer and a Thin Blue Line sticker on the back window of our van. I do understand that some of the dead men left the officer with no other choice. But I also understand that some of the officers in question turned to deadly force too quickly.

Some of my friends have countered the shirt with “all lives matter” but that misses the point. It is our stereotypical fear of Black men that has left so many of them dying in the streets. It is Black men who need the community to stand up for them and I have worn the shirt with pride.

For more on the topic, see my book Growing Up White.