Thread by @jamesmb

Dear fellow white people

I never thought I’d start a message like that.

But we need to talk.

What is happening today in America is not just about race in America.

#BlackOutTuesday #BlackLivesMatter

1/8

People of colour around the world are still treated worse than animals. Watch the reaction as people are disgusted by the destruction of TVs in a Target but don’t show the same reaction to the continual victimisation and killing of innocent people of colour...

2/8

because apparently, to them, there’s some kind of moral equivalence between the two.

This is a problem. Obviously, it is a problem for people of colour – they are the victims of it. But it is a problem for white people more and we need to step up.

3/8

Because, whatever anyone says, we have the power.

We have the privilege.

We have it in our hands to change things – and we have the power to turn a blind eye and let it continue.

4/8

You might not like it but we owe a debt. Whether you come from a rich background or, like me, a poor one, where we are today comes on the back of slavery. Where people of colour are today comes on the back on slavery.

We need to do something to address that.

5/8

We need to do something to ensure that people of colour are not just nominally our equals but that they can live their lives as actual equals. A place where they do not have to live their lives in fear, repressed and oppressed.

6/8

I am not going to post again on here today. It's not a time for people like me. I want to give my space to the voices of people of colour. Listen to them because, frankly, our problems pale into insignificance when you put them against the lifelong fear that they experience.

7/8

I do not have the answers but I can promise to be more conscious and do what I can to change things.

What is happening now cannot continue.

There comes a time when silence is betrayal.

8/8