Not Racist? Prove it.

You’re not racist? Prove it.

White classmates, white friends, white family, white colleagues, and white people:

I write this in earnest – in frank honesty, to document that we are in a political crisis of values and ethics. That you White people have a decision to make.

And the consequences of that decision, to either stay silent at the oppression of people of color and immigrants in this nation, or speak up, will result in how this nation prevails or fails in the age of democracy.

Many of you white people claim that if immigrants want to come here, they should do it legally. But do you realize that you are here because of the genocide you committed?

The land you stole? The laws you wrote which helped YOUR people who PRIMARILY look like YOU to immigrate? And the injustices you created, all to help YOU get ahead?

You, as a demographic, hold the highest concentration of wealth in this nation. You head most of our companies. You control most of Congress. You’re not imprisoned at the same rates of your black counterparts for the same crimes. You have crippled communities economically for decades. You control many of the world’s industries, from finance to beauty. (Shoot, you can even get-rich off fetishizing culture that isn’t yours). You hold an unparalleled concentration of wealth.

And most of you sit out here.

Going about your daily routine, doing absolutely nothing to combat the further devolution of our nation into a hellscape where kids are being put into concentration camps, become unable to recognize their parents, parents are unable to find the whereabouts of their kids, journalists are attacked for reporting the truth, and countless other atrocities. Or worse, you married a person of color and pretend as if their issues of oppression are moot in a “post-racial” America. Or even worse than that, you voted for Trump.

You all make me sick. And angry.

Many of you say that if you were alive during slavery, Jim Crow, or the Civil Rights Era, you would’ve been an ally.

You would have spoken out. You would’ve been an abolitionist. You would’ve fought.

But look here: how you live your life is your chance to speak out, and do something. To get involved. To write. To talk about your privilege. To discuss toxic nativist sentiment, i.e., white nationalism. To confront your friends who keep saying problematic shit. To stop calling the cops on Black people living (i.e., going to the pool, delivering newspapers, barbequing, using Air B&B, moving into their apartments). To stop ignoring the existence of people of color, and their plight. To speak out about the world around you.

We need you to stop calling the cops on us. Stop acting like the oppression of people doesn’t exist, or only speaking up when it benefits you.

So if you’re not racist, you will get out here with us, and try to save our dear country.

And if you don’t, I am sorry to say that you are complicit.

“…Over the last few years, I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in the stride toward freedom is not the White Citizens’ Council-er or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate who is more devoted to “order” than to justice. . . who constantly says “I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I can’t agree with your methods of direct action;” who paternalistically feels he can set the timetable for another man’s freedom. .. “-MLK Jr.

This has nothing to do with being a democrat or a republican.

This has everything to do with your character, and who you are as a person.

This is a human rights issue.

Further, to those who “don’t want to get involved in politics”, or want to look at “both sides”, those who feel it doesn’t affect you, and those are silent of issues of oppression:

“He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetuate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it.”-MLK Jr.

You need to be out here.

Being a Viola Gregg Liuzzo. A Heather Heyer. A Jessica Chastain. A Tim Wise. A Peter Norman.

Rallying. Yelling. Speaking. Working. Donating. Advocating.

We need you out here risking your physical and financial security with people of color. In this day and age, we don’t need “Allies”, pretending you actually care about brown and black people and their plight.

We need people who talk the talk, and walk the walk.

Your voices have an impact. So use them.

Let us help right the wrongs we created, and protect those who need it most.

Tweet. Post. Speak.

Don’t be just another complicit white person.

Be an accomplice. The country needs them.

With love, here is a list of organizations doing great work. Support them.

ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union):

https://action.aclu.org/petition/separating-families

https://action.aclu.org/petition/cbp-stop-abusing-children

Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights:

https://www.theyoungcenter.org/reforming-the-immigration-what-we-do/