Let’s talk about white people and social justice

By Abby Runnels

So you want to be an advocate for social justice. But you’re white. Where do you start?

White allies may not know when to speak, when to be silent or when to call out white friends for racist comments or posts on Facebook.

Social media is a great tool for spreading information and opinions. Unfortunately, it also can become a tool for spreading ignorance.

For me, the Black Lives Matter movement represents the best use of social media by advocates so far. Created in the wake of the 2013 acquittal of George Zimmerman in the shooting of Trayvon Martin, the movement aims to end racial disparity in the criminal justice system. It quickly took off, spreading to several cities in the U.S. and even around the world. The movement found traction on social media with the hashtag #blacklivesmatter.

However, as soon as black people found a way to voice their discontent with the criminal justice system and the way they are frequently racially profiled, white people jumped to defend and devalue. Many people, mostly white, started using #alllivesmatter hashtag.

Don’t get me wrong. All lives do matter. That’s not up for dispute. But when black people are flocking to social media in large numbers with valid complaints and opinions, we need to listen. Not only does #alllivesmatter completely miss the point of what Black Lives Matter is trying to accomplish, it belittles the experiences and challenges that black people face.

To better illustrate the difference between these two, I like to think of the Black Lives Matter movement as a charity run for a chronic illness; let’s use Alzheimer’s. You wouldn’t go to an Alzheimer’s run with a big sign saying “Breast cancer matters!” would you? Of course breast cancer matters. The people at the Alzheimer’s run know that breast cancer matters. Nobody’s saying breast cancer doesn’t matter. But people at the Alzheimer’s run are there to highlight that specific disease. Maybe they know someone who has suffered with Alzheimer’s, and they want to advocate for more research funding. Whatever the reason, they believe in the cause and its importance in their lives.

Don’t misunderstand me; I don’t mean to be harsh toward people who have used the #alllivesmatter hashtag. However, it is somewhat counterproductive and silencing, and we as white people need to recognize that. Using #blacklivesmatter isn’t saying white lives or asian lives or Native American lives don’t matter. It merely brings the injustices against black people to the forefront of the discussion about race in our country.

Another form of criticism I’ve seen on my daily browsing through Twitter and Facebook is white people’s comments on the protests organized by movements like Black Lives Matter. I’ve scrolled past many posts with something along the lines of “Martin Luther King, Jr. would be disappointed with the way these protests are going” and “He was an advocate for peace, not violence.” These comments often come from a place of ignorance, or even fear. I think a lot of people associate protests with riots, even if they are not inherently connected. No one wants riots to develop in their cities, making it difficult to travel and sometimes resulting in violence.

And yes, some protests have been destructive, especially when fueled by feelings of anger or despair, such as the protests after Darren Wilson was acquitted after shooting Mike Brown earlier this year. But the majority of major protests are peaceful, so peaceful that major media outlets don’t even cover them.

Despite this, FOX News (which, according to mediamatters.org, has a viewership of 88 percent white people), labeled the Black Lives Matter organization as a “hate group.” FOX News has been one of the biggest users of the Martin Luther King, Jr. argument.

However, there might be a piece of history missing from their argument. According to Nick Bryant of BBC News, before King’s famous 1953 March on Washington, rumors of unrest became so prevalent in the capital that “the federal government essentially mobilized all its resources to prepare for the worst, deploying troops, beefing up security, ramping up surveillance, and clearing jails for new arrests.”

If even Martin Luther King, Jr. was expected to arouse unrest and possibly violence, what kind of unreal expectations are people like those at FOX News putting on the Black Lives Matter organizers? Race relations is a touchy and emotional subject. Add in the criminal justice system, and it becomes even more intense. We as white people can’t put these kind of unreal expectations on a group that is marginalized and feels that protesting loudly is the only was their voices will be heard.

The last thing white people need to do is recognize the privilege we have in society. I, as a white women, have no idea what it’s like to be a black woman. I never will. But I can listen to their struggles, and I can try to understand their challenges and the prejudice they face.

One of my favorite authors, Dr. Roxane Gay, wrote in her book of essays, Bad Feminist, “You need to understand the extent of your privilege, the consequences of your privilege, and remain aware that people who are different from you move through and experience the world in ways you might never know anything about.”

Don’t be afraid to be white and advocate for social justice. There is a role for you to play.