In the Baltimore Sun, Julia Blount has an article that will be discussed on Monday, May 4, at 7 p.m. at the monthly forum, Continuing Conversations on Race and White Privilege at the Princeton Public Library, third floor. She writes:

I am not asking you to condone or agree with violence. I just need you to listen.

You don’t have to say anything if you don’t want to, but instead of forming an opinion or drawing a conclusion, please let me tell you what I hear:

I hear hopelessness
I hear oppression
I hear pain
I hear internalized oppression
I hear despair
I hear anger
I hear poverty

If you are not listening, not exposing yourself to unfamiliar perspectives, not watching videos, not engaging in conversation, then you are perpetuating white privilege and white supremacy. It is exactly your ability to not hear, to ignore the situation, that is…