Pam McPeek, Silverdale

Kitsap Sun July 30, 2020

I'm writing concerning the powerful column published in the Sunday, July 19 Kitsap Sun, "History's comment on how Black lives matter," by Jan Kragen, a history teacher in North Kitsap.

In reading the piece, I was enormously impressed by the extent and depth of her knowledge of events and factors related to the United States' long and still ongoing history of racism. There were many things she recounted that I simply did not know -- things I was never taught in school and haven't learned on my own. I am white, and I have never believed myself to be a racist, but to have all of this information brought together and presented, factually and unemotionally, in such a compressed manner made me realize in a way I never have before the meaning and extent of "white privilege" and the degree to which I am its beneficiary.

I'm not sure at this point what I will do with it all, but awareness precedes considered action, and I now know and understand things that I had not before reading Ms. Kragen's column. I am very grateful for her caring and compassionate efforts to make this history known in such detail, and I hope others, perhaps affected as I was, are also wrestling with the question of how to turn this knowledge into meaningful and productive action. Quoting Ms. Kragen's final paragraph, "Obviously, all lives matter. The point is, black lives haven't. It's past time to make sure they do." Yes, it is.

Pam McPeek, Silverdale