To My Fellow White People

(author’s note: This was originally written on June 5, after about a week of the George Floyd protests.)

Black lives matter, and the fact that we need to say that is a problem. It’s time for us to step up.

Before I say anything else: I was very late to realize any of this. I was not paying attention. I decided this was someone else’s problem. I decided it wasn’t worth making a priority in my life.

I did not start truly learning until this week. I am just now learning to take allyship seriously. I have a lot of catching up to do and a lot to reckon with. Anyone who calls me out on anything related to this is correct.

I do not want forgiveness, absolution, or consolation. I say this so you understand that:

• It is never too late to come on board.
• You will learn about the harm you have done, in both what you have done and what you have not. You will need to deal with that on your own. Your white guilt is not for Black people to bear. It is not for allies to bear. It is yours. Sometimes that will not be easy. A lot of things aren’t.
• You will be called out for the harm you have done. As above, that is yours to deal with. Allyship is a repeated lesson in humility.
• You are not done doing harm. You will be called out for that too. If you don’t make mistakes, you’re not doing enough. There is probably something in this article that is problematic or offensive, and if I am called out and given a chance to correct it, then I have been given a gift.

But don’t take it from me:

“At some point, you will have to admit WHY? WHY were you silent? WHY were you absent? WHY did you stay ignorant? Because you know why. And we know why.”
- Daniel J. Watts (@dwattswords on Instagram)

“I want your activism to be questioned and challenged and criticized by Black people. I want you to grow from your mistakes so we can grow as a nation.”
- Kandise Le Blanc

I’ve heard a lot of people talk about how much things changed this week. They did not. This is not the first week that Black Americans have been forced to take to the streets to demand justice. It’s just the first week you’ve been listening. This isn’t the first week that Black people have been marginalized, threatened, kept from success, treated as less than people. Not just by faceless organizations and racist caricatures, but by us.

As protests continue, the NAACP has released a list of four demands. They are all common sense, basic rules that every police force in this country should already be following. They are:

• A ban on the use of knee holds and choke holds as an acceptable practice for police officers.
• The Use of Force continuum for any police department in the country must ensure that there are at least 6 levels of steps, with clear rules on escalation.
• Each State’s Open Records Act must ensure officer misconduct information and disciplinary histories are not shielded from the public. Recertification credentials may be denied for police officers if determined that their use of deadly force was unwarranted by federal guidelines.
• Implementation of Citizen’s Review Boards in municipalities to hold police departments accountable and build public confidence.

The number of these on which we have made significant progress is zero.

The NAACP does not speak for all Black people. The things that must change extend far beyond this. We need to dismantle a system of racist policing, of criminalization of Blackness, of using the police for things that law enforcement should have absolutely no part in. And that’s not even close to the end of it. You will discover the rest as you read, listen, and learn.

As you can see, this is going to be a very long fight.

Over the last week in Richmond, police have “improved” from outright violence on peaceful protestors to merely using their entire force to menace them. In many cities, they simply continue the violence, unchecked by a system with no real oversight, by institutions and people who have decided the police are always right, by a doctrine that insists on escalation not because escalation works but because it is designed to bring Black people to heel.

One thing has been made clear: the police would rather attack, intimidate, and attempt to subjugate Black Americans than listen to them. The idea of listening doesn’t seem to have occurred to them. I doubt it will. The police have made clear that they will not change voluntarily. It will be the will of the people and the action of forces outside the police that effect change.

It is everyone’s job to make that happen.

Don’t share hashtags. Don’t post on Instagram. Don’t change your profile picture. Do more.

Change yourself. Elevate Black voices. Donate to Black causes. Support Black businesses. Learn:

• How to learn without burdening Black people (or allies)
• How to prioritize being useful over being visible
• How to elevate Black voices instead of erasing them
• How to talk about Blackness
• How to treat Black people as people and not curiosities (you do more of this than you think!)
• Why it’s not okay to support the movement “as long as it’s peaceful”
• Who George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and others were, before they became hashtags
• Why it doesn’t matter whether they were “model citizens” or not (but they were anyway!)
• How we erase Black pain: physical, emotional, and historical
• How we suppress Black joy
• How White Supremacy is woven into our lives, and it’s not just Donald Trump or 4chan or the police
• Which efforts actually combat inequality, and which are comforting distractions to make white people feel better
• How to learn and support and help without becoming burned out, exhausted, or paralyzed by self-doubt

I’ll help you get started; the rest is up to you to find. Look at what Black journalists, authors, activists, and community members are reading. Listen to Black protestors and speakers. But remember, your education is your job, not theirs.

For Our White Friends Desiring to Be Allies by Courtney Ariel

Before You Check In On Your Black Friend, Read This by Elizabeth Gulino

How to respond to “riots never solve anything!” by Rafi D’Angelo

When My Beautiful Black Boy Grows from Cute to a Threat by Georgina Dukes

The assumptions of white privilege and what we can do about it by Bryan N. Massingale

Dear White People, This is What We Want You to Do by Kandise Le Blanc (linked earlier in the post)

What are the Key Performance Indicators of Black Life? by Katrina Fludd