To My White Friends

Dear White Friends,

First, I want to say thank you. Thank you to the people in my life, especially those who are white, who have been brave enough to speak out against racism and injustice over the past year. Seriously, I appreciate you and I understand how much of a sacrifice that has been. Many of you have lost followers, friends, and even business over your activism, but you have stayed strong. Even if all you did was post a black square last June, I appreciate you. I did not personally see the value in participating in the black square posts, but if you did, I saw it and it changed my perspective of you as a person in a positive way. Thank you.

Second, I want you to know that I am exhausted. Watching Ahmaud Arbery get shot in the chest at point blank range with a shot gun and then a few weeks later watching George Floyd lay motionless on the ground was quite a blow to my psyche. I felt helpless and that things would never change, and Black people would never be viewed as equal by much of our population. I had already been writing and speaking out for a few years and it felt like nothing was ever going to be enough to change people’s hearts. I found, however, a lot of hope in America’s response last year. I started writing more, posting more, having tough conversations with friends and family, starting new initiatives at school, and protesting in the streets. I found a lot of new motivation, mostly because a lot of you finally started taking this seriously.
It was a long hard year but a year where a lot of progress happened. Now, as we are getting further into 2021 though, I feel absolutely worn. I try to keep up with Derek Chauvin’s trial, but I almost feel numb to it. As if the emotional wounds have already scabbed over and if I get too invested, I will open everything up all over again. I feel the same towards the shooting this past weekend in Minneapolis and then the video of the young Black army officer in Virginia almost ripped that scab off completely. I am so tired. So tired of these things happening and so tired of fighting with other white people about whether we even have a race problem in this country. I think most Black people who have been heavily involved this past year would tell you the same.

Lastly, I want to invite you to keep fighting. I am not giving up the fight and neither are other Black folk, not by a long shot, but the continued trauma of fighting for people who look like us and our family members to simply not be murdered has begun to take its toll. That is where we need you. Please keep posting, keep fighting, keep calling out injustice when you see it. Do not take mine or your other Black friends’ silence as a sign of complacency or an indication that all is well, rather take it as a sign to do more and to get involved. Take it as an opportunity to give your voice in proxy for those who cannot quite find theirs right now. We need you.

 

Sincerely,

Your (Exhausted) Black Friend