Deeply disturbed, not only by the lack of an indictment, but by the unbelievable levels of hate coming through my Facebook feed. No matter your opinions on this, if you think this is about one person and one horrific tragedy, you are missing the point. Heres the thing. Im white, am married to a white man and will have white children - while I am outraged and saddened, I can never truly understand the scars these events will leave. Because no matter how my heart breaks over what is happening, I will never have to explain to my sons that they will always live with an extra target on their heads. I will never have to teach them how to behave when approached by police to avoid getting hurt. I will never have to feel like the court system views my childs life as less valuable. But my sisters and friends will and do. Its a reality that I will never have. I didnt do anything to earn that. That is a privilege I was born with, and if youre white, you were, too. So no matter where you land on this particular case, you must at least acknowledge that you, as a white American, do not and cannot fully comprehend the impact of this verdict on families across the country. You have to acknowledge that you are inherently at less risk of unjustified force just because of your skin color. You have to acknowledge that racism exists in our society. If you truly do not understand white privilege and its relevance to this horrific situation, its okay -- but you need to educate yourself starting today. And if you arent willing to do that, then you dont deserve the microphone.
Posted on: Tue, 25 Nov 2014 03:41:19 +0000
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