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I just want to talk about something really quick. A lot of the discussion around #BLM is around supporting the black people in your communities. Showing up and out when they need you and not just performatively doing that online.
But what does that really look like? And I'm just talking to my white friends and followers. First off, black people know better than me about their experience always. As does every other marginalized community.
On my side it's been a million discussions with my parents. It's convincing a man that's voted republican (though not for trump) that bootstrapping isn't a real thing. My mom that black lives matter doesn't diminish other lives.
It's serious conversations about a family member in the path of the hurricane that did vote for trump and use of our home. It's calling congress people and trying to write personalized letters to people in authority so someone might notice them and read them.
It's diverting incidental money to kofis and twitch streams instead of spending money. It's actively seeking black creators in your favourite spaces and pro-actively choosing their work to populate your space.
It's black voices on your feeds and timelines, which means you have to follow and you can't give up because of the aesthetic, or they yell too loud, or even that you don't agree all the time because I'm willing to bet you don't agree with every white friend you have.
And the point I'm coming to is none of these make noise. They don't have rewards. No one comes to tell you you're a good person. We all thrive on validation, I know, but in this space.... if the reward is the validation you've diverted the attention away from where it should be.
Even this minute, I'm hesitating to make this thread, because I'm afraid someone will see it and try to make it about me. And all I want my fellow white people to do is just know, that you can do the work, not get validated, and still be good people. You didn't do it wrong.
What was supposed to happen happened. The attention got put somewhere it was needed and hopefully also the coin. And in the end, maybe one day, we'll all feel safe enough acknowledging that our success isn't predicated on someone else's failure.
