Thu, 9:17: Here's just a couple of things us white people can stand to do a LOT more of:
1. When we see or hear something racist, even if—especially if—it's done or said by someone close to us, call it out. This is *our* job now, we can't be waiting around for our black friends to be either correcting us or letting us know what's okay. They're too busy being exhausted from literally fighting for their lives. Calling it out may make you both uncomfortable: do it anyway.
(Side note: there actually are plenty of black people who have taken the initiative to educate us on how to be better allies, and guess what? There are books! And countless articles, easily accessible online! Take the initiative to do your own research, and don't make this just one more pointless burden on your black friends by asking them to guide you when the information is already out there.)
2. This one is arguably far more important: if someone calls *you* out on a racist comment or behavior, no matter how it is presented to you, take it as constructive feedback, and that it might be a good moment for self-examination. This is where too many of us become immediately defensive and insist "I'm not racist!" which entirely misses the point. We all have implicit biases, many of them very subtle and nuanced. This is an unavoidable fact, and many of those biases are, like it or not, inherently racist. This is the time to take inventory of those biases, learn where they come from, and start the work to deconstruct them.
Thu, 21:35: t’s pretty extraordinary how for a full week now police all across this country have actively gone out of their way to prove literally every argument for massive reform, demilitarization, and defunding.
