My response to white people who say, “If you don’t like it here, then leave”
Maybe you should pack your bags instead.
Today I have love in my heart. So much love. So very, very much love.
As in, I just love when I’m arguing with someone and they say, “If you don’t like this country, you should leave!”
It happens all the time. There you are, scrolling down your timeline, and a white friend posts something about this administration being the worst thing that happened to mankind. You agree and add a comment. Then one of their Trump-loving-alt-right-leaning friends decides what you said isn’t “American.” You go back and forth with them for a while until they pull out their favorite card:
“If you don’t like this country, then leave!”
This statement has been passed down to white people generation after generation. It’s something they enjoy saying as much as they enjoy saying the word “nigger.” This statement is their way of telling you, you aren’t wanted in this country.
I have a question for you, white people.
Where the hell am I supposed to go?
I could leave California and go back to my birthplace in Brooklyn, New York, but my peeps know that’s never gonna happen. Nothing against New York. Those streets raised me, but I got what I needed out of it and moved on.
If I leave the country and go to my mother’s birthplace, I couldn’t stay because that’s not my home either. Plus, I have entirely too many family members on that island I don’t want to deal with. So I’m good. Hell, even when I visit, I stay at a hotel and don’t tell anybody I’m there.
If I leave and go to Africa, where in Africa do I go? Where do I belong? I’ve been to Africa. I would love to call it home, but do you know how big Africa is? Do white people even know it’s not one country? And even if I did know from which African country my ancestors were kidnapped (yes, I said “kidnapped”), I have no ties there. How would I even begin to fit in with the people and the culture?
Do you know where your roots originated?
I don’t.
And before you say there’s an easy way to find out what my roots are, I ain’t taking one of those DNA Ancestry tests because:
A. You ain’t keeping my DNA for whatever reason you keep it for.
AND….
B. I don’t need a DNA test to let me know I’m black, from some part of Africa and still hated all over the planet.
So where is it white people think I should go when I’m told I should leave this country where I was born?
Why is it so easy for white people to fix their barely-there lips or curl their fingers to tell people of color to leave the country if they don’t like it? I wanna ask them why they don’t leave? Most, if not all, white people know their lineage. So why not go back to where they came from? After all, their ancestors chose to come here. Mine were stolen from Africa.
I mean, come on. Instead of telling people of color, “Go back to your country” or “If you don’t like it, you should leave,” why can’t they just accept there are major issues in this country? Why can’t they just work alongside us to fix it instead of telling us to buck the system and leave?
Seriously, white people, do you enjoy your privilege so much, any change is not okay with you?
Do you get an actual thrill from watching us gunned down, beaten up, profiled, and thrown in jail?
Must you cling that hard to being higher up on the food chain? Is the feeling of superiority so sweet even though you’d be just as fucked as we are if you weren’t privileged?
Instead of telling us to leave this place where we’re simply trying to survive, why don’t you get the hell out so the country we’re trying to change will benefit from your leaving?
Because guess what?
Come closer…
There are more of us black and brown people now than there were when I was coming up in this country. There are more of us now, and we aren’t going to sit back and allow this mistreatment to continue. There are more of us now, and we’re dedicated to changing — not just this country — but this world for the better. And there are MORE OF US that won’t allow you to continue to treat us like second-class citizens.
So, white people, in the spirit of all this love, let me give you some advice.
How about before your purse your lips or curl your fingers to type in some inherited babble about “leave if you don’t like it here,” pack your own bags first. We’re only growing in numbers and getting louder than you have ever been or could ever be. This is my country as much as it is yours. So either work with us or get the fuck out of the way.
Feel the love yet?
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