White people, we’re tired of trying to convince you of our humanity
Yesterday a group of WOC and I spent several hours online working with a white woman who couldn’t understand her comments that minimized racism and discounted the struggles of black women were harmful. An ally I work with spent several more hours working with her one-on-one. The result? She barely budged in her way of thinking.
I’ve chosen to take on these fights because I’m sick of white people dismissing my struggles as a black woman and not seeing me as a human just as worthy of love and respect as they are. In talking to other black women, I realized something…
We’re not just tired. We’re exhausted. We’re bone weary.
The same scenarios with white people play out over and over again. They say something racist. We explain why it’s racist and tell them they’re causing harm. They deny both. We have a heated discussion, and one of two things happen: they listen and try to do better or the more common ending… they get defensive, call us racist and leave.
For all the work we put into fighting racism, the return on investment is shamefully low. Most white people don’t want to listen or learn anything. Today it feels like I’m constantly going on job interviews trying to pass some test so white people see me as a human being and white people saying, “No…
