#DearWhitePeople: As a fellow white person, I offer a self-reflection exercise. 5 questions. Question 1: What's worse: property damage, assault, or murder? (The answer to this one is murder. There is no debate.)
Question 2: How did you react when you heard about George Floyd? Take a second and think about it, and answer honestly for yourself. What did you think? What did you feel?
Question 3: How have you reacted to the protests, including the escalations into looting and violence? Most importantly: which have you focused on most on this week--the murder or the protests?
4: If you are disgusted by the looting and protest violence BUT had less or no reaction to George Floyd, honestly ask yourself: Why did I care less about the the killing of a defenseless, unarmed man than I do about looting and violence?
5: If murder is worse (see question 1), why did it not impact you more? What is causing you to react in a way that is not aligned with your actual values?
If you're trained to have MORE empathy for property or other white people or cops than a Black man, that's racism. Especially when the worst crime was against the Black man. No, you probably don't hurt Black people, but somewhere along the way you learned to care less about them.
That's not a problem for anyone else to solve--that's your problem. That's why you need to be told specifically that #BlackLivesMatter, even though of course all lives matter. It won't change until white people change. Until I change and you change.
I hope and pray the looting and violence will end, and I'm sure it will. But I also hope and pray that cops don't kill people without cause, and if/when they do, there will be real consequences equal to the crime every time. Let's work on that.
I hope every white person can ask themselves these questions and make the personal commitments necessary to come out on the other side more aware, more empathetic, and more educated. Listen, read, donate, volunteer, help, change.
I don't have a big platform, but I wrote this for myself as much as anyone else. I commit to do more. And if putting this on Twitter helps even one other person do the same, at least I've done something. #JusticeForGeorgeFloyd
