Our vulnerability is a gift most white people take for granted.

A thread. https://twitter.com/usnehal/status/1313412702564495360

2/ White rage is real. Speak racial truth to white people and you summon it.

We invite it when we are vulnerable to white people. Black people know this very well.

3/ If not outright rage, white violence comes out in more subtle ways. This is much more common.

White violence is not always loud. It is also the chronic, relentless questioning of our life experiences and lived realty as Black people.

It is you telling me I’m articulate.

4/ White violence is your perspective being the unquestioned norm because you are white but mine being viewed as inherently “biased” because I am Black.

It’s you only listening to me because I have an MD.

5/ It’s being “All Lives Matter’ed” when telling other humans you are terrified of being shot in your house while you sleep.

White violence is telling Black people “I care about you” and then that “care” dissolving when we call on you introspect or sit in discomfort.

6/ It’s your avoidance of calling out racism because you “don’t know the right words to say”.

7/ The white violence that harms me the most—the white violence that harms the majority of Black people the most—is the kind that comes wrapped in smiles or silence from good, well-meaning people.

8/The kind that are more vocal about the destruction of white property than Black bodies.

The kind who call themselves feminists but can’t name a single Black feminist.

9/ The kind who will not promote a Black person but always seems to know a white friend and/or colleague who would be “perfect for the position”

10/ The kind who has had a Black friend for years and has no clue what it means for their friend to be Black because they have never bothered to ask.

11/ The pain dealt out by good white people is ever present and relentless. The pain cuts through our skin, and breaks our bones. It’s suffocating. It’s traumatizing.

12/ But because you are smiling and mean well, we aren’t allowed to tell you or be angry about it. We also aren’t allowed to grieve. That’s the rules of white supremacy.

We gotta keep you comfortable or else, you harm us even more.

13/ The pain white people unconsciously, insidiously inflict on Black people is a pain born from us understanding the exact depth of white indifference to our destruction.

And if not white indifference, it’s white silence and inaction.

14/ It’s your choice to stay comfortable while we can’t breathe. And you can, and do, chose it over and over and over.

But us? Well. We don’t have anywhere to go. There is no safe place for us. Anywhere.

15/ But the worst horror of all? By far, it’s this:

We can’t get free without you.

How’s that for vulnerability?