I have addressed racism in this blog before. I have named black men and women, boys and girls, who have been slaughtered because a police officer thought them dangerous. Or a "neighbor" didn't recognize them. Or they were jogging while black. Or... Or... Or...
It is time, white people, to move beyond your "color-blind" attitude. I had a black acquaintance recently ask me, "If someone said, 'I don't see your gender. I don't see you as a woman at all; you're just like everyone else,' would you feel like they knew you? Understood you? Or would you feel like they were ripping a piece of your identity away? Like they were ignoring a big part of who you are?" I already knew that "being color blind" was offensive to many black and brown people, but I hadn't really internalized it until I thought about that. Being a woman is a large part of who I am, how I see myself. Robbing me of that part of my identity would absolutely hurt me. And it hurts black people when anyone strips them of their black identity.
So, no more "color blindness." It's false. It's hurtful. It's racist.
Yes. Racist.
It is time, white people, to step out and accept that we all, all, hold racist thoughts and beliefs. It's time to stop pretending and start self-examining. I have lived as a white minority in a black majority country. I have lived as a white minority in an indigenous community. I raised two black children in small-town Iowa. And none of that has eliminated my racial biases completely. I purposefully include people in my life who challenge my thinking in many ways, including race.
We, white people, need to stop avoiding the topic of race. It is not racist to talk about race or to notice race. It is racist to pretend that race doesn't exist. It is racist to pretend that you think of all people in absolutely equal terms. It is simply avoiding our own biases!
It is time, white people, to go beyond, "I'm not racist" to "I'm anti-racist."
Stop seeing this as "all in their heads" or "It's only a few racists." Stop saying, "I'm colorblind." Stop saying, "That's old news. Things are better now."
Just stop all the excuses and rationalizations.
Speak up. Stand up. Get up!
Maybe you wouldn't have tried to take Rosa Parks' seat. Maybe you wouldn't have attacked Ahmaud Arbery. Maybe you have never used a racial slur in your life. Maybe you've never held your purse a little tighter when the black man got on the bus.
But it's time to go beyond that. Be anti-racist.
Anti-racism means fighting against racism. Taking a stand in public when a racist individual utters a slur. Stopping your coworker when they start a racist joke. Listening to the persons of color around you and bringing up institutional practices that foster white privilege or short-change blacks. And actively trying to understand structural racism, to dismantle it.
This will not be easy.
This will not be simple.
This will not be comfortable.
Too bad, white people, too bad. It is time to be uncomfortable to make room for the comfort of persons of color. It is time to take on the complex issues of institutional and structural racism.
It is time, white people, to use your privilege to leverage justice for our black and brown neighbors.
Now.
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