Submissions
Read our “About” page to learn more about the purpose, philosophy, and heart behind Bridge of Lament.
Writers of any background and skill are encouraged to propose topics about which they are interested in writing for both our June 19-July 4 bridge crossing and intermittent, off-season posts. If your topic fits with our goals, we will invite you to write a piece for the project. The pieces need to stay under 1000 words for our readers to keep up on a daily basis, but we will consider longer if they help meet the project goals.
Editors help us refine our prose and presentation for the public audience. If you have a talent for grammar and spelling or are able to edit pieces for organization and flow, we would love to hear from you. Our first choice will be to have local editors, but we encourage others to consider participating, as well. This is a way to draw wider participation in the project than just our region.
Pre-Readers will help us connect with the audience. We know these are sensitive topics for the community. We need pre-readers to advise us when to pull back on a topic that contradicts our goals. The pre-readers may also encourage us when to lean in further where we are holding back.
Email bridgeoflament@gmail.com if you would like to participate in any of these facets of our project.
Goals
To provide space for lament over the legacy of white supremacy in our community.
To recognize the contributions of enslaved and marginalized people to the wealth and cultural vibrancy of the city and counties.
To encourage collective work that reflects the principles of freedom and equality aspired to at America’s founding.
To welcome support from African American and indigenous communities, as writers, but especially as pre-readers or editors, to honor their perspectives and guidance above white perceptions.
To build connection with and between our readers through community activity and service events
The Language of White Supremacy, Superiority, and Ethnocentricity?
The term “white supremacy” may evoke uncomfortable or uncertain feelings in readers. Many confine the concept to explicit extremism — white hoods and burning crosses — but authors Duke Kwon and Greg Thompson define it more broadly as the “social supremacy of people characterized as White.”2 It is the promotion and valuation of white identity above non-white identity, whether consciously or subconsciously, by economic, political, and social means. As with many caste systems, this social promotion is often invisible to the beneficiary group itself. Yes, white supremacy included “its embodiment, slavery,” but its legacy also endures through modern times. Even though it’s a difficult term, we know that people of color appreciate the acknowledgment that our society has embodied this valuation in the past. We use the terms white superiority and white ethnocentricity interchangeably though they may have slightly different connotations to the reader.