Fellow White People

Art by Kate Ma

Fellow White People --

This is not our moment to shine. This is not our moment to spit and throw and aggravate; this is not our moment to take over because this is not OUR movement. We want to scream, but this is our time to listen, to finally hear the words that Black mouths have whispered and screamed and sobbed for over 400 years and to not take them right out from behind their teeth. This is our time to hand them a megaphone and amplify. This is our time to support.

When our shoes hit the pavement among thousands, it is not our time to lead. With signs above our heads or knees to the dirt, it is not our time to make this about us. It is only our time to stand at the forefront when police raise their barrels and canisters, and we must act as barricades. This is serving and protecting. Remember that just for lack of melanin we are gifted birthright innocence in their eyes. Remember to use this.

Feel that feeling that lies in our chests at the end of the day. The feeling of not doing enough, of the fight never seeming to close, of anger and pain and sadness and frustration as to why the hell the world is the way it is. Unjust. Feel it and imagine it multiplying second by second and day by day and year by year and century by century and compound into every child growing up to fear walking in their own streets, and realize why this is not ours to command. This is just the beginning of our understanding, but it is by no measure the beginning of the fight. So stand with all of those we have muted and all of those we have looked past and over. If these words hold more value because see your whiteness in them, know that the most important lessons will be taught by black mouths and actions and hands. Seek them out and listen. Shed light on them.This is not our moment to shine.

#prose

#blm

#activism

#racism

#privilege