A Letter to White People: April 4, 2016

Dear White People,

Today is the anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s assassination. As I write this, we are four hours away from the moment that a bullet pierced his flesh and silenced his voice forever, 48 years ago.

Yet many of you continue to tell Black people what Dr. King would want us to do, how he’d want us to behave in the face of the racism that still exists today, despite his (and many others’) best efforts.

I’d like to offer you something to think about on this day:

Dr. King followed the rules you uphold as a shining example. White people killed him for it.

Now, while you may think respectability and degrees and suits will help us plead our cause, we need only to look back at Dr. King to show us the inefficacy of that approach.

See, while you may consider listening to our pleas when we voice them in the way you wish to hear them, there are others of your kind that find our intelligence, politeness and limited positions of power in our society threatening. The very thing you ask of us is what others of you will kill us for.

Last, I’d like to add that we and our ancestors have already paid in skin and blood and bone to free ourselves of the chains and ropes that were designed to make us appear inferior so your ancestors could feel better about enslaving us, segregating us, impeding us. I think we’ve already spilled enough of our blood to prove our humanity. On this anniversary, I demand* that you see my humanity and stop telling us how to fight so others will see our humanity and equality as brothers and sisters of the world.

Sincerely,

a black human being

*yes, demand. I’m tired of playing a game where white people make the rules. It’s time that Black people and other minorities get to make our own rules. It’s our turn. Don’t worry — we won’t treat you the way you treated us.