To extinguish the plague of racism in the United States, white folks first need to address the whitewashed version of Christianity upon which the US was founded that (1) underlies our broken system of justice & (2) signals our complicity in acts of violence against black bodies.
Whitewashed Christianity is what enables white folks to go unchecked in their ignorance, as they echo phrases like “I don’t see color” with a false sense of moral superiority, while carrying on with their casual, everyday racism fueled by their “color blindness.”
But that’s just it - racism is never casual. It’s just not always overt. It doesn’t always look like murder in broad daylight or men masquerading in bed sheets to terrorize their neighbors.
Racism is also crossing to the other side of the street or locking your car doors or threatening to call the police or refusing to see how your white privilege blinds you to how many freedoms non-white folx in America don’t actually have that whites take for granted every day.
Like going for a run.
Or driving with a busted turn signal.
Or relaxing in your home.
Or needing medical attention.
Or getting pulled over for a minor traffic violation.
At some point, white folks need to take responsibility for our whitewashed worldviews which are rooted in whitewashed religion and propped up by the comfort brought about by unjust systems that uphold our white privilege.
If you’re not actively listening to people of color and intentionally immersing yourself in stories, experiences, and worldviews that do not mirror your own, then you are perpetuating racism through your willful ignorance.
Meanwhile, black bodies are the price of our complicity.
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