'I need white mamas to come running'
(CNN) Christy Oglesby is a senior producer at CNN. The views expressed in this commentary are her own. Read more opinion on CNN.
Mama.
That's the sweetest name in the world to me. Ever since I was three, I yearned for that title and privilege. Year after year during my childhood, I asked for the same Christmas presents -- a doll, a stroller, a set of dishes. I wanted a way to show my child the world and introduce the world to my child. When I got my dishes and doll, I crafted elaborate table settings for my mud pie meals so the "baby" would know how much I treasured her. Years later, I'm blessed to have become Mama. Drew, my black son, my gift, knows I cherish him.
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So he was who I thought of when tears burst from my eyes listening to George Floyd, a man in Minneapolis. His final minutes in the custody of the police were captured in a devastating video, as he screamed "Mama." Floyd was pleading with the officers -- one of whom held a knee to his neck -- that he couldn't breathe, to the growing alarm of bystanders, one of whom recorded the scene. Floyd's mother is deceased. But in his cry -- "Mama!" -- I heard a twisted combination of hope and horror. Hope because in that moment he hoped the person who gave him life could save his life even in death. She'd undoubtedly done it before when she was alive. And horror because that's never how a black mama wants to hear her sacred title.
Mama!
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But I'm tired. I'm tired of being scared for him. I'm tired of reading about Ahmaud, Travis, George and so many others. The list never stops. I need the white mamas to share this burden. I need my white friends to love me and mine enough to come running, too.
Mama! Mama!
I need them to hear that cry and to tell their sons and daughters that my child is a human. I need them to declare and believe that he's in danger, that I can't protect him by myself and that his life matters to me and to them. I need them to tell their white friends' children, too. My child's life is sacred. My child is not dangerous.
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https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/28/opinions/george-floyd-cry-for-mama-hits-home-oglesby/index.html
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