Hello. I am a white girl from a small southern racist town. A thread:

It’s so hard to wrap my head around my upbringing. I grew up in an incredibly racist town. I remember hearing adults discussing black people using words my parents had never said.

I was in this weird bubble where at my own house, racism didn’t exist. My parents never EVER expressed any sort of racism so I didn’t realize how huge of a problem it was until I grew up and could look back at my interactions with other white adults...

having conversations they didn’t think I was listening to but also didn’t seem to care if I was. I remember the stigma of dating a black guy. I don’t remember it being discussed but I do remember if a friend of mine was dating someone black she didn’t want her parents to know.

Chinghiz, a foreign exchange student from Kyrgyzstan, asked a white girl out on a date once and her father told him not to ever call her again. He was so confused. He was so respectful and sweet and what was apparent at the time was that this is just how Hawkinsville was.

I had to explain it to him. I remember telling him that her father didn’t see him as a person. He saw him as a foreigner and that sadly, they weren’t welcomed here. It blew his mind.

Many parents didn’t want their children interracially dating not because they considered themselves racist, but because they knew that the town would be against it. Society would make it hard.

But what I’ve learned as I grew older is that going with the social norm of a small southern town is how racism is still so prevalent in 2020. We can’t be quietly not racist. We must be loudly anti-racist. I know that now.

I am sorry I didn’t know that as a child and teenager and even as a young adult. It took a lot of reflection and forming close relationships with people outside of my little small town white girl bubble.

I encourage you if you haven’t felt comfortable being anti-racist to reflect back. Look back at your moments of silence and think about why you felt like you couldn’t speak up and determine what is most ethical. For me, it was fear.

But take that small amount of discomfort and apply it to the fear you would feel if you were a black man going for a jog and two white men with guns start trailing you and yelling commands.

The only way to change societies like this is for the ones who do not fear for their lives to speak for those who do. I know so many in our little town are NOT racist, but I need you to know that it is your responsibility to fight racism

...even at (no. ESPECIALLY AT) your family reunions, at your neighborhood cookouts and at your church retreats. If you still aren’t speaking up, it is time to examine yourself as a Christian and as (unfortunately) the only voice that racists hear.