I don't want to be a silent bystander, but everything I think of to say feels impotent and inept. No words can ever make up for centuries of horrific violence and abuses against black people, whether overt such as slavery and homicide or insidious such as systemic inequalities.
The magnitude & complexity of the topic is also too much for a Tweet. But racism, whether intentional or not, is a product of epistemology and epistemology shapes both individual actions & entire global systems. We need to address it at its epistemic roots, in my humble opinion.
Which is, of course, much easier said than done but theoretically not impossible. It's just not a simple or quick undertaking. And in the meantime the protests are absolutely necessary. They may not address the root causes but express the pain, anger, injustice & keep it visible.
As a white person I am not the best person to speak on racism. I can academicise it from my experience studying systemic violence. And humanise it from my own experiences of injustice as a disabled person. But it's more brutal than that. And I have surely contributed to it too.
I'm just so sorry to all the black people who have had to carry that history on their chests, whose lives have been scarred & maimed by it, whose dignity & opportunities have been crushed by it. It's horrendous & as a white person I hope I can see & respect your wounds & anger.
Of course apologies are not enough. It's not OK, never has been OK, and never will be OK. I hope good will come of the protests and that you will be heard. I don't know what to say or do without sounding or being ignorant or superficial. I agree we all need to do better.
