An Open Letter to White Folks

Hi. If you are a person of color and/or from a historically marginalized community, this message is not meant to speak for you. If you decide to read it and think it is helpful, please feel free to forward to well-meaning white folks in your networks.

Dear white folks,

We have some personal and collective work to do. Right now, as ICE raids and terrorizes communities, we need to resist the urge to rush to communities of color and ask what to do because that adds to the terror, even if our intention is to help. I see you. I see that you are also scared, and one of the reasons for that increase in fear may be because when a white woman is shot at point blank range, we feel shocked and enraged…and this is what our historically marginalized communities have been feeling for centuries. Decade over decade, year over year, day over day, and minute over minute. This terror is not new. 

But it feels new to us. 
And maybe that is because we have taken notice now. 
Which is a good thing, but it also means our shock, rage, frustration, insert emotion here, is years behind our historically marginalized neighbors. 

So. What can we do?

Stop. Take a deep breath. And check our motivation. Are we acting to make ourselves feel better or are we acting because we see that white supremacy is alive and well and we are ready to tear it down?

If the motivation is to make ourselves feel better, then we need to step back and think about how to act in a way that does not cause harm (unintentionally or not) to our already terrorized communities. The way to do that is through our bank accounts to supported and vetted organizations. Do your research. Find the organizations who are actively and consistently in mutual aid with our most vulnerable communities and donate money. After that, take some time to learn about what systems of harm have done and are currently doing and reflect on your role in them. 

If you are ready to tear down white supremacy, stretch out. This is a marathon and not a sprint. There is no getting back to normal. Normal is grounded in white supremacy, capitalism, hate, and dehumanization. So what can you do to decenter whiteness and center humanity?

There are three things:

1. Listen. Listen to what our historically marginalized, currently terrorized, communities are saying they need from us and then do it. Our voices, around organizing, are not needed here.

2. Take actions that hold our white neighbors, government, and ICE accountable. This is where we can direct our voices. We do not speak for communities of color. We speak for the system of humanity. We speak out against hate and dehumanization because we see the truth. That right now, our current systems that work for some white people are not working for people of color and therefore, not working. We hold elected leaders accountable. We hold white people accountable. We hold ourselves accountable. We do not ask our neighbors of color to do that. This is our community and we need to talk to our community. 

3. We ask communities of color if they need us to give, donate, volunteer, etc. and we graciously and compassionately accept if the answer is no. We do not make demands of communities who are hurting. It is not their responsibility to make us feel okay. If the answer is no, we accept it and return to our list of trusted organizations and click the donate now button.

Together, we can move forward to a new future grounded in humanity, reciprocity, equity, and unconditional love. To do that, we have to understand the role we play as white people. We have to reconcile that our culture and background are also stitched into harmful systems that have repeatedly hurt people who don’t identify as white, cisgendered, and heterosexual. It doesn’t mean that we individually are harmful, but to expect people to take us at our word is harmful in and of itself. To demand that someone just believe that “I’m not a racist” is obtuse and an energy suck. Instead, quietly do the work.

Intentionally or not, we keep falling back into centering whiteness and causing harm to communities who are hurting too much already.

As a white, cisgendered, heterosexual woman I am asking my community of white, cisgendered, heterosexual people to redirect our energy toward tearing down white supremacy because our ancestors built it. We do this without shame, blame, defensiveness, or the need for recognition. We do it because it is well past due, the systems have been obsolete from the beginning, and this is our contribution to the future that believes humans, no matter the meat suit they are in, deserve the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. 

With so much love,

Julie