We need to be Allies.

The emotions I feel when it’s reported that yet another black man, woman or child has died at the hands of a white person are a fraction of what the black people in my life must feel; my best friend, numerous other friends and acquaintances, several of the men I’ve dated. I think of them all when it happens. I try to empathise but I could never understand the depths of pain these tragedies cause them. 

I see the videos of white people calling the police on innocent black men, I feel disgusted to my core. Those white people know what they’re doing. They know their skin colour gives them privileges black people don’t have. They know the system favours them and they play into it. The weaponisation of whiteness has been an on going issue for years, centuries even, and the ramifications of that could be a black person being unjustly killed. 

When a black person says all white people are racist, I understand what they mean. Our lives have been built on racism. We can’t always see it in ourselves but it’s there. In micro aggressions. In “jokes”. In judgements. In conversations. Even when I was young, dumb and ignorant, I never said or did anything that would get me “cancelled”, like we’ve seen from so many people in the spotlight. But have I said things that I now see were dripping in ignorance? Yes. Have I realised how blind I was to my own privilege? Yes. Did it take me years to dissect and understand? Yes. Is that because the society I grew up in is inherently, insidiously, systemically racist? Yes. Is any of that an excuse for the racism we’re still seeing in so many white people today? Fuck no. I have been, and still am, actively unlearning my subconscious preconceptions and the connotations society has attached to black people. I enjoy black culture while not appropriating it. I’m aware of my past ignorance and I’ve learnt from it. I’m not seeking approval, I’m telling other white people what they need to do.

If you’re white and you can’t see it, you are part of the problem. Open your fucking eyes. It’s your responsibility to educate yourself on the structural and systemic racism in our society. Learn, unlearn, and relearn better. You should, at this point, be able to see the glaring differences in how black people are treated, by the media, police, schools, doctors, employers, banks, security guards, governments, society. You shouldn’t just see it you should be angered by it. Enraged, infuriated. If you’re not why not? How can you not be? How can you not be pissed off that someone with your skin colour knelt on the neck of an unarmed black man until he died? How can you not be utterly vexed at the sight of two white men literally hunting an innocent black man jogging and shooting him point blank? How can you not be painfully frustrated watching a system fail black people, blame black people, trap black people, kill black people over and over again? Are you broken? Are you racist?

Racism is our problem. White people insight racial violence. White people are killing black people. White people colonised the fucking world, so white people need to speak out. White people need to be angry at each other. White people need to be angry at the fact our skin colour is represented by racists. We need to hold each other accountable for this system to be dismantled.

I think a lot of us don’t speak out because we don’t want to say the wrong thing or because we feel it’s not our place. But it is our place and we need to do it more. We need to call each other out. We can’t keep blaming our society for the way we think. We can’t keep not discussing race issues because it’s a touchy subject. It’s a touchy subject because racism comes from us, it comes from white people. We need to make racists feel like the dickheads they are instead of avoiding an uncomfortable confrontation. Tell them they’re racist when they’re being racist. Disagree with their ignorant judgements. Correct them when they use racist terms. Don’t carry on the conversations if they don’t stop. Never stop trying to change opinions. Never stop standing up for the victims.

I see people calling out various influencers for not speaking out and they should be called out. Fuck the backlash they’re afraid of. Any company or brand that doesn’t support their chosen influencers taking a stand against racial injustices shouldn’t be a brand that gets support in 2020. Too many people continue to suffer and die at the hands of racists and those who stay silent are complicit. Stop supporting it. Stop putting money over black lives. Stop ignoring what is our responsibility to fix.

It was never enough to say “well I’m not racist” and move on from racism discussions, but it’s what so many people still do. To be not racist, you need to understand all the layers that form racism. You need to understand the depths of it and actively work against it. To really understand racism we need to understand our history. Understand the destruction white men caused across the globe. Understand that we have done so much damage to other cultures, erased people’s history, stolen their worlds and then built a whole system that works against anyone who isn’t white. White people need to stop pussyfooting around racism and be the allies black people and all people of colour need us to be until all racism is obsolete.