Last weekend, Aug 15/20, I was driving through Algoma, WI to get to Door County for a job. As I drove through town, around 8am, I saw ahead of me a small group of all white people. It looked like they were marching in their own little parade. As I drove closer, I started to slow down because they were in the middle of the street marching, and I was able to kinda’ see their tshirts, which had some sort of white pride message. I remember thinking, “Are you fucking serious?! Is this really what I think I’m seeing? Oh my fucking God!”
When I see this sort of thing on the news, it feels so disjointed from my own little reality- my bubble of like-minded, anti-racist people that I surround myself with. But there it was, racism at its finest. As I drove around the group to get away from them and keep on my way, they pumped their fists at me, expecting me to cheer them on. I gave them looks of “WTF” instead.
I had always known Algoma harboured racists- I have seen residents drive around with confederate flags- but this just takes the cake.
I am so disappointed in these residents of Algoma; I am so disappointed racism still exists; I am so disappointed there are still people who are actively trying to suppress groups of people based on skin colour/ethnicity/religion; and I am so sad that some people think this is the appropriate response to the Black Lives Matter movement. There is still so much work we all need to do to eradicate this hateful mindset.
I understand that this small town in northern Wisconsin is geographically removed from the “big-city problems” of race & oppression, and that by physical proximity alone these residents do not see systemic racism in their face everyday (not to mention the town’s demographic is predominantly white), but these are not excuses to not educate yourself; these are not excuses to turn a blind eye & live in denial; willful ignorance will only fuel systemic racism.
When the job was done in Door County, I drove back through Algoma to get home. I parked my car along the side of the road, walked around the beach area, and ended up using the railing to the Algoma Chamber of Commerce as my loom to weave a black square. A visual reminder that Black Lives Matter, and that we need to be anti-racist. As the media dials back its coverage of the protests, and as the social media black squares get buried under posts of “things to buy/look how fabulous my life is by X influencer”, I hope that these woven black squares can serve as a visual, analog reminder to keep up the anti-racism fight.
Ps- I chose the backside of the building for a few reasons: the weaving won’t get taken down as quickly; there were residents in the front, and I felt nervous around them; the beach area is popular with locals, I’m hoping people will notice the black square while strolling the beach
graffitiweave 