Maaaan, where were all these White folks during the past 8 years that Black Lives Matter has been protesting? Because, honestly, this shit is irritating and infuriating.Β
Why do you care now?? What took you so fucking long to give a shit about us?? What have yβall been doing while weβve been suffering at the hands of cops and your people? What have yβall been doing while weβve been getting gunned down in broad daylight? What have yβall been doing while weβve been fighting, crying, mourning, and dying for our people? WHERE ππΎ THE ππΎ FUCK ππΎ HAVE ππΎ Y'ALL ππΎ BEEN?!?! ππΎ
Some of y'all only give a shit about looking βwokeβ and βprogressiveβ to Black folks and your White counterparts, and it shows. Y'all need to cut that shit the fuck out. You only hurt our cause when you show your ass like this. Allyship is not allyship when itβs performative, and even if youβre an βally,β youβre still an oppressor. And y'all need to realize that.Β
We donβt want another George Floyd. We donβt want another Tony McDade. We donβt want another Ahmaud Arbery. We donβt want another Breonna Taylor. We donβt want another Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Sandra Bland, Tamir Rice, Philando Castile, Rekia Boyd, Eric Garner, Freddie Gray, Natasha McKenna, Samuel DuBose, Alton Sterling, Aiyana Jones, Laquan McDonald, Jocques Clemmons, Deborah Danner, Terence Crutcherβ¦. We want justice. We want change. We want a future for ourselves and our children. We want to be able to exist without fear, without pain, and without our lives constantly being threatened. And we want yβall to do your part and work to dismantle the system that was created to harm us.
We are so tired of Whites sitting around doing nothing while our people are dying. Sharing posts in support of us and the movement is not enough. Signing a petition or two is not enough. We need yβall to call out your White counterparts for their racism and work on your own racial biases as well. We need yβall to listen to us when we talk about the injustices we face and learn from it. We need yβall to listen to and uplift our voices. And we really need yβall to be actively engaged in destroying everything that works to destroy us.Β
Do better, dammit, or donβt bother getting involved in our movement at all.
Genuine question: As a white man who has literally no idea how to effect social and systematic change other than what Iβve read in fictional books, and who lives in a very conservative white area, what actions can I take to help? Btw Iβm 19 and broke, so I canβt really donate or really be taken all that seriously in βadultβ circles.
Alright, so I know thereβs already a lot of posts on this site that explain whatβs been going on and that link petitions and fundraisers, but Iβm gonna link all that stuff here after I provide some more information.
First of all, itβs really important to get educated on whatβs happened with the George Floyd/Minneapolis situation. That said, you should also get educated on on Black Lives Matter, racism, Black issues, racial injustice, Black history (the truth, not White lies), capitalism, police brutality, discrimination, etc. The best way to do this is to listen to Black people when they discuss the issues that affect us and our communities; listen to us and BELIEVE US!!! You can do this by reading posts from us on this website as well as other social media sites, and you can learn from any Black people you know who have spoken out about the struggles we face. Aside from that, you can also learn from the Black Lives Matter website. Please be wary about getting information from news outlets, though, as many of them are biased.
Second, thereβs always a fundraiser that you can donate to in order to help Black people and families who have been affected by racism and police brutality. And if youβre not financially able to donate, thereβs always a petition you can sign to help us out. There are also numbers that you can text to further support us. Aside from those three things, you can email and call both state and federal Congresspeople who represent/work for the areas that police brutality and protests are happening in.
Third, get involved!!! Donating, signing petitions, and calling representatives is great, but you can always do more! Join the protests. Use your White privilege, and step in when you see one of us getting harmed and treated unjustly. Protect Black people at the protests and amplify their voices. Protect Black people when you see them experiencing racial discrimination. Protect Black people when you see them getting harassed, arrested, or harmed by cops and by White people in general. It is your job to protect us, especially when we canβt do it ourselves. And if you canβt get involved in activism like this, you can always engage in online activism. Share our social media posts to help spread information on the injustices we endure. Share our petitions and fundraisers on every social media outlet you can. Amplify our voices online, too! If youβre in a space that is mostly White, like a Facebook group for example, amplify the voices of the Black members in the group instead of speaking over them. Point out the fact that THEY are the authority on Black issues and that THEY should be the ones speaking on it when theyβre present. And even if we arenβt present, you can and should still fight for us. Educate your White counterparts any way you can. If youβre unsure how to go about that, one thing you can do is link them to our posts and to websites that discuss the discrimination we face. Hell, you can straight up quote us and our posts to them, too! I donβt care how you get the information to them so long as you do it!
We also need yβall to not only consistently check your privilege, but also challenge it. Stop insulting our intelligence by trying to convince us that youβre not racist, that youβre engaging in as much activism as possible, that youβreΒ βnot like other White people,β that youβre a βgoodβ White person because you have Black friends/family/partners and βvote blue,β etc. Telling us these things doesnβt show us that youβre an actual advocate for anti-racism; you need to be able to back up those claims! And do not get upset with us and claim weβre βattacking youβ any time that we challenge your intentions. We have every single right to be wary of you and of all other White people we encounter. You also need to challenge your privilege by calling out your White coworkers, friends, family members, partners, neighbors, etc., even if it costs you something. Hold them accountable!! Donβt protect them, and donβt make excuses for them; racism is inexcusable. The approval of your White counterparts should not matter more than our lives. We put our lives on the line every single day, so the least yβall can do is put your relationships with your racist White friends on the line. All you have to do isΒ saying something or do something when you see Black people being targeted, and it doesnβt matter if you do so through social media or in encounters with those in power. All that matters is that you do something!!Β
Last, we need yβall to recognize any prejudices you have and unlearn them, and never stop unlearning them; always keep growing and learning. We also need yβall to acknowledge that, while race is a social construct and weβre all human whether racists want to accept that or not, COLOR STILL MATTERS!! RACE STILL MATTERS!!! Skin color always has and always will matter. And if you, as a White person, are upset by that, get mad at your fellow Whites because it was your people who decided to differentiate between races in order to oppress us. Besides that, we also need yβall to understand that there are no βgood cops.β Please dear god, stop with the wholeΒ βItβs just a few bad applesβ/βNot all copsβ bullshit! All cops are bastards, and yes, that includes your favorite fictional cops as well as any cops you know personally.Β βGood copsβ donβt exist becauseΒ βgood copsβ sit idly by whileΒ βbad copsβ continue to harm us and our communities; they are all complicit in racism and violence. Yβall need to understand that the police are a historically White supremacist domestic military force and that their sole purpose is to enforce violence so oppressors and oppressive systems remain in power. They are not here to βprotect and serve" us; theyβre here to protect and serve the rich and their property, people in power, and Whites. They are not legally obligated to protect people, especially not Black people. Recognize that ALL cops are a part of this system and support it by participating it, so none of them areΒ βgood cops.β Another thing yβall need to understand is that you cannot experience racism and that we cannot be racist towards you or oppress you. We can be prejudiced towards you, sure, but racism requires prejudice AND power; we have no power over you. Systemic racism does not and never has affected Whites, and it is so important that you understand that and understand how systemic racism affects us. And finally, please stop sharing the videos of us being murdered. We donβt need to get traumatized over and over again, and we donβt need the murders of our people plastered everywhere like itβs entertainment. It is exploitative, and it harms us and the families of the victims.
Donβt let this continue. Donβt let people demonize us. Donβt let our murderers walk free while we continue to die in these streets. Donβt let people dismiss this asΒ βThis is just the way it is/has always been.β The way that it is is unacceptable and needs to change. Help us by working towards that change.
~ Links to educational information, petitions, fundraisers, and more will be listed below the cut!! ~
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@ non-Black people of color:
Donβt think youβre exempt from perpetuating anti-Blackness either. Whites do the majority of the damage, sure, but y'all do damage, too. Being a person of color doesnβt mean you canβt be prejudiced towards other PoC. Y'all need to step up and check yourselves as well.
