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White Americans have long insisted we weren't racist, even when we tolerated racism in others & racial injustice more broadly. Now is the moment for those whites -- if they wish to be taken seriously -- to put up or shut up. What does that mean?...
2/ For starters it means to stand against Trumpism. Even if u like his economic policies, court appointments or anything else. To allow someone whose politics of prejudice define him and who daily assaults pluralism and multicultural democracy 4 the sake of $ or judges is evil...
3/ Next, it means opening yourself to hearing what people of color have been telling you/us forever: that this thing is real. That racism and racial injustice are current problems not just matters of history...they warned us, but too many weren't listening...
4/ U don't have 2 agree w/everything a person of color says & disagreeing with POC about things doesn't make u racist. But refusing 2 hear them when they describe their lived experiences -- to question their ability to discern their own lives -- certainly suggests racial bias...
5/ So learn to listen...next, be open 2 examining your own history so u can see how race has played a role in your life. This isn't about guilt or 'checking privilege,' but being open 2 realizing we are all living racialized lives, which shape how we see/experience the world...
6/ Examine how being white has influenced where you grew up, around whom, in which schools, with which family experiences, peers, teachers, authority figures, etc...how it shaped what you learned, about others and yourself? How it might have distorted certain understandings...
7/ Then commit to learning more about this process not just for yourself but the society at large, any how these distorted understandings have kept systems of inequality in place...
8/ Mostly, stop saying racism's a thing of the past. Ask yrself: What's more likely? That a system all agree was in place 4 most of U.S. history suddenly ended w/no inertial impact, or that such a system likely continues 2 distort opportunity & left scars, ideological & systemic?
9/ Once u open yourself up 2 the only logical answer to that question, commit to living & operating differently; prioritize racial equity, pluralism & multiracial democracy in your public and private life. U can still be "conservative" on various issues if that's where you are...
10/ But let that conservatism yield to the progressive and even radical call for justice; let it not blind you to the cries of those who have fought for too long with too little support from the likes of us...
