For the applause ...

This blog may get under your skin. I hope it does. It came about because of a dream. This dream struck me to my core. It is as follows:

White people with cameras were lined up on the streets. All dressed in their “Sunday best”. They were going to black neighborhoods and snatching black children for photo opps. I saw this happening and it made me angry. Even other black people were literally snatching up these children for photo opps. 

The children were running, crying and screaming, but no one was listening.  They just wanted pictures of how well they were treating these children. I went to that neighborhood and just walked around. The children ran from me because I was white. They were afraid that I wanted to exploit them, dress them up then throw them away. 

I found one child in distress and I went to her. She started to run, but I just held out my arms crying myself. She came to me.  She was all dressed up and trying to eat her dinner when someone had taken her just to get a picture with her. She was just hungry. 

I sat with her as a group of distraught children gathered around me. I just listened. I was so angry that I took these children with me to confront the opportunists that wanted a photo opp. They were all busy, but I kept knocking until someone would listen. 

I wound up in a black Mayors house. I took the children and let them tell their stories. He basically told me "that’s just the way it is". I got angry and reminded him of a time when these same white people held these children up to show how poorly they treated them and asked him “Don’t you care?” He was very dignified until one little girl started crying. “I just want to be left in peace”. The black man broke down. 

He said “it’s just for the applause” then he wept. Weeping was not enough. I told him he had to do something. We searched for someone to listen. One woman gasped at how horrible these children had been treated, but she refused to do anything. She fumbled around with the phone trying to find someone to “handle” the situation I and my children were causing. 

The clock turned back and I saw these same children running through the streets in fear of  white people because they would be beaten. The crowd went wild. Then I looked again. These same white people snatched up the same black children, dressed them up and took pictures with them. 

The black mayor was crying.  I said “why won’t anyone listen?”  He then stated “ it’s all for the applause “... I woke up and had to share this with you.