Dear White People: A response in the middle of the #blacklivesmatter revolution.

One of my former high school teachers reached out to me to apologize for her, and on behalf of her white counterparts, for their roles in systematic racism and oppression. I felt very conflicted by the message, for reasons that I might go into in a future post, but I mentioned in this video. 

 This is the response I had for her and any non-black folks that are looking to black people in their lives and communities for forgiveness, absolution, and next steps. 

I want to make 3 things clear:    

1. “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.” 

 It is not enough to just send messages, listen to sermons, or post on social media. These are a great start. 

 To truly join the fight for justice it’s important that you show up even when no one is watching. It’s important to show up at the polls, at family dinner tables, in your classroom, at protests, at the businesses you frequent and fund, and anywhere else you see injustice happening and you feel led to take a stand. 

 It is also equally if not sometimes more important that you do this because you truly feel led, humbled, and willing to teach others and not because you feel pressured or you think it’s the right thing to do. 

 A quote that comes to mind is: “the road to hell is paved with good intentions.” 

2. Treat black people like a new pair of glasses. 

Systematic racism and oppression might be a concept that you are grappling with right now. but it is nothing new. This is something that past generations, the current generation, and most likely the future generations of my people have and are dealing with every single second of our lives. 

 To try to break it down more clearly: imagine you’re an elementary school kid and you love being/playing outside. You love climbing the green and brown blobs, seeing all the shapes and colors of nature swirl together when you’re walking home from school, and the beautiful butterflies buzzing by. 

 Your parents tell you that you need glasses which sounds crazy to you because you can see just fine. When you put the glasses on and go outside you realize that the blobs were trees, the swirl of colors and shapes were different houses, and butterflies were actually bees. 

 You’re obviously shaken. Everything that you thought you knew is completely different and you have to completely change your perspective. That is probably how you feel right now, but black people have always seen the trees, houses, and bees. 

 So, when people couldn’t see them or denied that it was real it was extremely frustrating. It has taken over 400 years for y’all to see the trees and black people are tired. 

 Please keep in mind, when you are trying to learn and listen about everything that is happening, you are late. 

 You had to get a “prescription” to see what has always been clear to us. 

 Please anticipate the influx of emotions and groundbreaking revelations that you are having, and will hopefully continue to have, are trees we have always seen. The roots of these trees go deeper and farther than you can probably imagine and show up in places you probably never considered. To name a few; police brutality, healthcare, education, food, housing, gentrification, jobs, the school to prison pipeline, voter suppression, and so many more. 

 Please treat our people and our pursuit for justice and equality with the respect and care you would a new pair of glasses.

3.    Do not stand in our way.

It is not every black person’s job to teach you or others about systematic racism and oppression. 

 We have been fighting this war for 400 years and as we are hopefully finally gaining some ground, we do not have the time, energy, or capacity to stop and give lessons..... and yet we still do. 

 If you are fortunate enough to have black people in your life that are willing to teach then please listen carefully and take notes and if you have black people in your life that are unwilling to teach then please honor and respect that just as equally. 

 We are in the fight for our lives, livelihood, and everything and everyone that we love. 

 Please feel free to join our cause, but do not stand in our way.