Social Distancing --

White space is a negative space

I ring my bell to let pedestrians know I am about to pass so they can give me space to get by.  I sit 8 feet away from two white men blocking the road with bikes and bodies. I ask them to stand next to each other so I can pass and only one moves, closer to me. I tell the fool as I pass that I am trying to honor the six feet buffer.

On my way back from Bay Farm Island in Alameda, I walk my bike on the wooden bridge so the older man walking his dog can get a head start. So when I get ready to pass him and his dog, I ring my bell so that he can stop occupying both traffic lanes. He does not move his dog over.

I am so through with white people.

I see a person crossing the street so I stop far enough for him to cross in the crosswalk and he walks behind me less than six feet away.

What is wrong with these people?! Good grief. I know white people don't usually have to think about public space, especially sharing public space-- let's not even talk about dogs and how dogs are valued more than Black people. They are congregating, blocking public roads. They don't even move to the side. These people stand in the middle of the sidewalk and other walkers have no where to go. Then they get into the street and block the bike lanes.

One stupid woman said in response to over crowded beaches in Marin that it's to be expected that after being home all week, people would head for public spaces. What part of pandemic doesn't she not understand? The field trip could cost her or someone else their lives.

I was walking and it is just getting too difficult to find a place on the sidewalk or in the street. Parents have all their kids on their bikes in the bike lanes and sidewalks.

White people, listen up. You do not own public space. It belongs to all citizens, people, not animals. White people, I want you to keep six feet or more from everyone especially, Black people. I know, you have to get used to seeing us first. Acknowledging the space we occupy is a first step.

I do not want you to bump into me or get close enough to remember my features. Stay the hell away from me. Act like some of your ancestors did when he or she thought my child was going to get into the swimming pool with his or her child. Reach back, and it won't be too far a grab to a place where my people sat in the balcony to watch the same movie you were watching for the same price.

Just know, however, that I am not stepping off the sidewalk. You can. My ancestors have stepped off enough sidewalks to last a lifetime-- yours and your children's. However, I am not going to fight you over public space-- space that does not have a genetic marker with your DNA written across it.

Ultimately, to ignore social distancing is not just unsafe and puts everyone at risk, it is disrespectful and rude. It is a level of inconsideration only a person who is completely self-absorbed would demonstrate.

White people especially white women and white youth and young people in general have been ignoring the social distancing order. With numbers increasing everywhere, does the disease have to affect someone you know for you to take this warning seriously?

Two weeks ago a person I know whom I was speaking to in Target came down with a virus, not "the virus." It was confirmed by Kaiser. How close is that, right.  Imagine all the people I might have passed or spoken to in the store, who later became sick whom I will never see again?