Who Told White People To Check In On Me?
I am ashamed to say that I debated writing this but…
Who is telling white people to check on their Black friends, family, coworkers, colleagues, former classmates and such?
I debated writing this because Black truth has always come with reprisals. When we tell white people the truth we are not only looked upon as ungrateful for white “kindness” we are punished in some way. We lose jobs, our reputations and sometimes our lives. However, since so many white people are asking how I am doing let me tell you the truth.
I grew up in America’s system of racial oppression and white supremacy, what the world is witnessing is a reality that most people of African descent in the Americas, from Cleveland to Caracas and from Richmond to Rio are used to. We have been lynched for public spectacle, had our towns and neighborhoods burned to the ground, had our homes shot up and crosses burned on our lawns. We have been convicted of crimes we didn’t commit by racist “kangaroo courts,” denied the right to vote or own property and vilified after being murdered by white vigilantes and police officers. If we happen to dodge all of the above and make it to the suburbs or corporate America we contend with the fact that our white colleagues in the same or similar positions are paid more money than us, that we are regularly passed up for promotions…
