The time for silence is over, white people. You are either with the black community or you are not. No longer can you claim to be an ally while spending your days hiding in the shadows of your privilege (or behind the safety of a screen).
To be an true ally, you must be anti-racist. To be anti-racist, you MUST:
Join the choir of voices demanding justice (no matter how small you think of your audience, no matter who you might upset).
Open your wallets & support the people on the ground fighting for justice/liberation (Minneapolis Freedom Fund is a great place to start as it helps pay bail/bond for the protestors).
Put your life on the line when you witness racism, police brutality - get your white body in the way. The state is more likely to protect white bodies (proof of this is how the police responded to white protestors last week & black protestors this week).
Shut up, sit down, & listen to the black community: their struggles, their pain, their cries for justice. Your voice in this fight is needed, but it can never outshine or undermine the voices of the black community. Be the fence between them and their oppressors, not a megaphone drowning out their cries.
Follow more black creators, activists, politicians, etc. You can’t learn/grow and do the work if you aren’t actively in the community, surrounding yourself with people who look different than you.
Learn from the black community, but do not burden them. If you have a question, google it. Still have questions, ask a white person first. The black community does not have the time nor the energy to cater to you.
Be willing to be uncomfortable, be willing to be ashamed because doing the work as an anti-racist is not easy work, but it is work that must never stop. Our white discomfort that we will feel is nothing compared to the actual pain and terror felt by the black community. If you feel guilty, upset, embarrassed, hurt, frustrated, sad, devastated by what’s going on - you are feeling only 1% of what the black community feels daily. You will survive your discomfort, they may not.
These are just some ways you can show up for the black community, today and every day moving forward. This fight doesn’t stop when the news cycle moves on & it shouldn’t leave your lips (or your thoughts) either.
So, I ask all of my white followers - will you make the effort to do the work with me? Will you betray your own race to uplift and amplify the black community with me? Will you actively do everything you can to destroy and dismantle white supremacy (& seek justice) with me?
If not, please unfollow me right now (& don’t message me and tell me why, I already know).
The time for white silence and complacency is over.
(& I don’t want you here if you aren’t willing to step up and start doing the work, period)
janainaart
romaincrisis
areudirty
izzy806
germansingergirl
discoholicmusic
