Dear White People
If you’re offended by the title…then you may be too sensitive and not open enough to hear the truth or deal with reality, so maybe you shouldn’t continue. Maybe you should start a #DeleteWhereIsMyVagina campaign because it doesn’t fit your sensibilities and offends your white privilege. Maybe I’m being insensitive to your entitled proclivities and will never understand or maybe…it’s not about you.
Where do I begin? Everyone wants to boycott and march and #delete without taking a deeper look at what is really happening and why. And I’m not saying that you shouldn’t do any of these things, I’m simply asking, do you understand why you’re doing it and why it’s necessary?
These are some of the issues as I see them…and this just scratches the surface. First, should I remind you that 53% of white women voted for trump? Do I say how foolish it is to accuse Luke Cage (Netflix) of being too black. Do I talk about Netflix’s upcoming original series “Dear White People” and the rush to call it racist because of what was shown in a few seconds trailer? Might I remind you that the trailer showed incidents that happened on real life college campuses. Were you outraged then? What about the Muslim ban? You wanna talk about that? Statistics show that most criminals are American-born. Most radicalized terrorists are disenfranchised people who entered the country legally. What about hate crimes committed by non-Muslims? No, you don’t want to hear about that? Well, just one…the Oklahoma City bombing, the Mosque in Toronto, the Charleston church, Tucson shooting, oh, I said one. Why aren’t these folks called terrorists? Terrorists are only from Muslim countries? I didn’t know that.
What about Planned Parenthood? Most of the services they provide are not abortions but general women’s health care, including birth control and yearly check-ups, in essence preventative care. A matter of fact, abortions and unwanted pregnancies are on a decline for the past several years.
What about how horribly the Natives are being treated? What? That’s a moot point, their lands were taken hundreds of years ago? Oh I see.
And the rhetoric from the politicians. If another politician says that this country was built on values of inclusion and kindness and this is not what we’re about, I’ll puke. This country was built of the backs of slaves and immigrants and the have and the have-nots. So, all this bullshit that’s going on, is exactly what this country was built on…we just need to not stand for it.
Anyway, my point? Take a look in the mirror. When was the last time you stood up for a fellow citizen that didn’t look like you? Make decisions that take your community into consideration. If you were born here, where were your parents born? Where were their parents born? …and where were their parents born? What if they said you had to leave? How would you feel? Oh yeah, it wouldn't happen to you because your white privilege wouldn't allow it.
This is a nation of immigrants. A nation of hypocrisy. A nation that should include all of us, not just white people. So, don’t tell a black person to get over slavery, just as you won’t tell a jewish person to get over the holocaust. Until you’ve walked a mile in another man’s shoe, you will have no idea. And remember, it’s NOT about you.
So, you can protest and march and #delete and be reactive to a situation or you can be thoughtful and proactive and prevent a situation.
So, you can protest and march and #delete and be reactive to a situation or you can be thoughtful and proactive and prevent a situation.
