Video of the below letter being read on June 5, 2020: https://youtu.be/7ZEMwAgeJyc I have been asked numerous times by my white peers “what can I do?”, “How are you feeling?”... I have been asked numerous times by my white peers “what can I do?”, “How are you feeling?”. I have received the calls and the texts only to reply with a thank you, not answering the phone due to not wanting to be the black-sounding board for white allyship. Many of my white friends know why I am not answering; if you’re friends with me, you’ve learned I tend not to bite my tongue on racism, especially with those I love and care about.
I’ve been silent on social media, no surprise, I do not even post about my children or birthdays, etc. on social media. I tend to go months without a post and miss many messages on all online platforms. I prefer a phone call or some other interpersonal form of communication. I’ve recently received what I call “pain marketing”, where white school and org leaders do a call to arms if you will, asking for funding as our black and brown children are pimped out, white leaders facilitating and inviting folks to racial healing circles; ironically an indigenous practice at the core. Instantly frustrated and disgusted at the capitalization of our communities based on our anger, terror, fear, sadness, anguish, hopelessness, and despair. Leaders like this come a dime a dozen, copy, paste, repeat leaders perpetuating systemic racism, cloaked in coined words like decolonization, diversity, equity, inclusion, hiring “teachers that mirror our scholars” (with no safety), racial bias, and let’s not forget “urgency.” Regurgitating what has been learned as they stepped on the black and brown backs of myself and peers, cleaning up their messes, parading us in front of commissions and funders on visits, but never putting us in the rooms or taking us to the dinners after, never paying equitable wages or recognition for the work they have appropriated and that they receive millions of dollars in funding for. The reality is that these copy, paste, and repeat leaders have to be stopped and exposed. There are so many leaders that you all can think of that meet these same criteria. Will you protect me when those who feel threatened by this message come for my livelihood? Will you pull funding and be harsher on us for speaking our truths? Will you demand that these leaders work with the same urgency and fervor to eradicate their racist ways as they do when pimping out our black and brown children? See, there are two pandemics, one has been going on for centuries, and almost no one has blinked an eye at it while it has been persistent and consistent and happening daily; racism. While the other happens every 100 years or so, natural, depending on who you ask, and has had a much swifter action towards it daily, and folks cannot stop batting their eyes at it: Covid-19. Both are taking the lives of black and brown folks rapidly and without pause, no second thoughts. I am running out of fingers to count the people we know that have been lost, while many of my white peers have lost far less, and some none. Racism, coupled with Covid-19, is now killing Black, Brown, and Indigenous people at even faster rates. What this did make me do is think about what you, my white peers can do. Since you asked the question, I can only pray you will sit back and take the time to actually read this, from beginning to end and know it is long, like just about 40 years of pain endured due to racism, and centuries of pain endured by my ancestors who had their histories stripped from them. Maybe you’ve just stopped reading, but no worries, I’ve also filmed myself reading this because I believe in differentiation for adults as much as scholars. So what can you do:
I have been asked numerous times by my white peers “what can I do?”, “How are you feeling?”. I have received the calls and the texts only to reply with a thank you, not answering the phone due to not wanting to be the black-sounding board for white allyship. Many of my white friends know why I am not answering; if you’re friends with me, you’ve learned I tend not to bite my tongue on racism, especially with those I love and care about. I’ve been silent on social media, no surprise, I do not even post about my children or birthdays, etc. on social media. I tend to go months without a post and miss many messages on all online platforms. I prefer a phone call or some other interpersonal form of communication. I’ve recently received what I call “pain marketing”, where white school and org leaders do a call to arms if you will, asking for funding as our black and brown children are pimped out, white leaders facilitating and inviting folks to racial healing circles; ironically an indigenous practice at the core. Instantly frustrated and disgusted at the capitalization of our communities based on our anger, terror, fear, sadness, anguish, hopelessness, and despair. Leaders like this come a dime a dozen, copy, paste, repeat leaders perpetuating systemic racism, cloaked in coined words like decolonization, diversity, equity, inclusion, hiring “teachers that mirror our scholars” (with no safety), racial bias, and let’s not forget “urgency.” Regurgitating what has been learned as they stepped on the black and brown backs of myself and peers, cleaning up their messes, parading us in front of commissions and funders on visits, but never putting us in the rooms or taking us to the dinners after, never paying equitable wages or recognition for the work they have appropriated and that they receive millions of dollars in funding for. The reality is that these copy, paste, and repeat leaders have to be stopped and exposed. There are so many leaders that you all can think of that meet these same criteria. Will you protect me when those who feel threatened by this message come for my livelihood? Will you pull funding and be harsher on us for speaking our truths? Will you demand that these leaders work with the same urgency and fervor to eradicate their racist ways as they do when pimping out our black and brown children? See, there are two pandemics, one has been going on for centuries, and almost no one has blinked an eye at it while it has been persistent and consistent and happening daily; racism. While the other happens every 100 years or so, natural, depending on who you ask, and has had a much swifter action towards it daily, and folks cannot stop batting their eyes at it: Covid-19. Both are taking the lives of black and brown folks rapidly and without pause, no second thoughts. I am running out of fingers to count the people we know that have been lost, while many of my white peers have lost far less, and some none. Racism, coupled with Covid-19, is now killing Black, Brown, and Indigenous people at even faster rates. What this did make me do is think about what you, my white peers can do. Since you asked the question, I can only pray you will sit back and take the time to actually read this, from beginning to end and know it is long, like just about 40 years of pain endured due to racism, and centuries of pain endured by my ancestors who had their histories stripped from them. Maybe you’ve just stopped reading, but no worries, I’ve also filmed myself reading this because I believe in differentiation for adults as much as scholars. So what can you do:
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