Miracle Inspires Me To Join The Car Parade

I haven’t written a post in a while, but upon the urging of a friend (Thanks, Rahel!), I’ve decided to start up again. Since my last post, I’ve felt called to devote myself to two worthy endeavors: Trying to fight 1) Covid-19 and 2) racism. The work I’ve been accomplishing has felt important, even though it has been passive: Staying home, reading articles and books to educate myself, having conversations with friends over the phone and social media. No doubt I will write about both topics in coming weeks, but I’ll start today by sharing  a recent experience I had fighting racism.

A few weeks ago I saw a flyer that inspired me on NextDoor app:

That’s cool, I thought. I’m so glad our neighbors are doing this. But I also thought, I don’t want to decorate my car, that sounds like a lot of work.

I’ve been in the midst of co-founding an online Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) book & film group in our neighborhood, so I PM-ed the three women I’ve been corresponding with to let them know about the car parade. One of them, Miracle, wrote back. “Yes, I’m on the committee. Please sign up to participate in the parade, we need more cars.”

No, was my first thought. I can’t. I’m not crafty. I couldn’t imagine Glenn and I setting aside our laptops and books to tromp out into the steamy hot driveway to shoe polish our car windows and tie streamers to our mirrors, or whatever one was supposed to do for a “car parade.” It just seemed silly, though it was a great idea for some couple that had kids.

But then I felt a tug. It was Miracle who was asking. Sweet, charming Miracle, the only Black member of the Fall Creek HOA Board, who at the 2019 Annual Meeting last December inspired us with a heartfelt off-the-cuff speech on what she hoped the Board might achieve in 2020—Miracle, with such a name, who the week before had posted a heartfelt “Open Letter to the Fall Creek Community” on NextDoor app in response to the murder of George Floyd.

Miracle wrote:

“I am literally in tears writing this open letter to you all as I try to express how extremely difficult it was to watch the video of George Floyd die on the street at the knee of someone who took an oath to protect and serve. I have a connection to him for more reasons than me just being black. I am also connected to him, because we graduated from the same high school (Jack Yates High School). Yates is a community like none other. I know all cops are not bad, as my husband is a police officer, and he has been working non-stop to protect the City of Houston. Even though he is a cop, he is treated different as a black man when he is in uniform than when he is out of uniform…and it is extremely disheartening.”

“I want to publicly thank Lorie Camacho and the community for coming together to bring awareness and attention to the issue of racial injustice and police brutality, which is often committed against people who look like me, my husband, and my son. Seeing the support and togetherness you are displaying outweighs the pain I feel inside.”

I’d been torn up by grief, too, so I was so heartened by Miracle’s letter. Finally, some healing happening somewhere in America, I thought, and, in fact, right here, in Humble, Texas. I wanted to be a part of the healing, and this desire is what has led me to co-found an EDI book & film group in our neighborhood (the group’s final name is yet to be decided). One of the aspects of racism that saddens me is that, on top of having to endure racism every single day, Black people are also left with the burden of having to explain the pain of White people’s racism to White people (and often also then have to endure White denial, but that’s another story). Black and brown people should not have to stand alone. It’s not right. I want to stand with People of Color to help fight racism.

I saw in a flash that I needed to join the car parade, that it was the right thing to do. Instantly, my resistance vanished. I clicked the link, typed in our info, and hit “Submit.” It was a small thing, but it was the right thing.

In my next post, I’ll share how the Unity Car Parade went. Stay tuned!

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P.S.: You can fall in love with Miracle Semien, too, by checking out her Youtube channel by clicking here.

P.P.S: The pretty streamer photo at the top of this post was created by Pixabay artist 5598375. Thank you!