053. where do we go from here?

the past few days have been heavy. to sum it up, what’s happening now is a culmination of the past 500 years, from the times when christopher columbus reached the caribbean & the disease of colonization/racism/white supremacy spread throughout the world. please consider the following:

how is it that we live in a time when predominantly white people in large crowds during a pandemic protesting to go shopping & get their nails done while holding guns/weapons/nazi symbols + spewing hate speech are treated with respect by the police & would be considered “very fine people,” while black people safely + peacefully protesting the murder of george floyd are targetted by police & attacked with rubber bullets + tear gas? when people are expressing centuries + generations of outrage & in response the president of the nation calls for violence to be used against the black community?

how can we stand by or turn away when white people commit violence & genocide against black, indigenous, and people of colour [bipoc] on a daily basis – from upholding glaring social inequalities to microaggressions at work/school to using whiteness + a false accusation of violence as a weapon to keeping a knee on someone’s neck until all life is gone in response to suspicion re how a meal was paid for to hunting/lynching a man when he’s out jogging, all while claiming innocence or ignorance or worse justifying one’s actions?

on some level, we are all experiencing fear right now – whether it be because of the pandemic or because we may be assaulted or killed because of the colour of our skin. but this does not mean that people can lose control & enact their fears onto someone else because of their privilege + the knowledge that they are likely to get away with it because the system was made for them – whether they can admit it or not.

i am outraged & hurt. but beyond outrage, speaking up, sharing a post online, crying, apologizing, i ask what we are doing in our everyday lives to support bipoc, to change, to be anti-racist, & to challenge whiteness/white supremacy? it may seem overwhelming & it is a painful subject to engage with no matter who you are. but the time is now & it begins with ourselves. how are we complicit & how do we participate in the system of white supremacy? you may not be the one holding the gun, but how do you enact different types of violence towards bipoc bodies & communities? how do we stop the pandemic that is white supremacy + racism? i don’t have all the answers & whatever the solution is it will be difficult, complex, & require a lot of hard work by all of us. but who are we if we don’t commit to this work? can we continue to walk this earth & claim to be loving + caring if this love + care only extends to those in our circle or those who we believe are worth the effort?

to start with, we can begin by reading books written by bipoc because people have been thinking on this + writing about this + speaking out about this for centuries. for some ideas, check #📚lostinplantopia for books written by bipoc writers. spend some time learning about what anti-racism means, what white supremacy means, etc. so when we do talk, we have a foundation of knowledge to begin a meaningful + caring conversation. genuinely engage with us & don’t come to debate whether or not something is racist, bc if we tell you it’s racist – it’s racist PERIOD. please don’t tell us to calm down because we’re understandably angry at what’s happening. ignorance is bliss, but not when it comes at the cost of people’s lives. we need to do the work to shift the dynamics because the scales have been tipping. the revolution has been going on –where do you stand?