A walk with my dog to help clear the fog | <B>Editor's Choice</B> |Axisoflogic.com

June 2 at 7:06:
Our walk tonight was a pilgrimage to The Meeting Tree.

The Meeting Tree is an ancient oak in a wetlands area in the south part of London, Ontario. It's huge ... about ten stories high and several people have to join hands to hug it's periphery. The tree is believed to be about 675 years-old.

It's where I go when I have to ground myself. When I need to get rooted again.

With all of the happenings of the past few months, and in particular the last week, I had to go there - to spend some time in the presence of this magnificent tree that has survived and continues to flourish despite everything it has lived through. This visit was particularly meaningful in light of racial tensions exploding in the neighbouring country to our south, and protests in support all round the world. It's called 'The Meeting Tree' because it was a stop on the Underground Railroad. It was a place where blacks escaping slavery from the USA would meet the conductors along the railroad for information or sustenance. For some, it was the end stop on their journey to freedom because they would settle in London or surrounding area.

It was a visit that was needed tonight not only to calm me but to give me time to reflect on the ways I am still racist or engage in forms of racism, my own complicity when I don't speak up as an ally or take action to end it.

This shouldn't be seen as an issue between blacks and whites but an issue of what's right and what's wrong. Discrimination in any form, in any country, including Canada, is wrong. I know many will argue, myself included as we will say 'but...but...but...' The bottom line is, there are no 'buts'....it's wrong.

Let's not focus on the property damage and looting that has occurred, even if the notion that it was aggravated by outside extremists is correct. Some people are theorizing troublemakers were sent in to distract from the real issue. And that real issue is oppression.

I know if my property was damaged or stolen or I was injured due to it, I'd be upset too. The thing is, what we need to be more upset about are the hundreds of years of oppression that led to this. If people hadn't been living in oppression for all of these years, it wouldn't have happened.

We can't continue to control or prevent these riots by force, policies, or attitudes that keep people under thumb and under control. We need to share that power and control. We need to have some uncomfortable conversations about what that means and how we can make that a reality.

It won't be an easy journey but one each and every one of us must be a part of if we truly want to prevent situations like this from happening again. We are all at different places on this journey, but we need to start it - or continue it - toward our journey of understanding and stopping oppression.

We have to - not only because it's right, but for our own survival. It's not about winning or losing. It's not about dominance. It's about doing what's right.

Let's support each other during these conversations and on this journey. Let's be kind.