Simply the worst advice for “good” white people I’ve ever read is in this link: 5 ways to support your black colleagues right now via TODAYshow – https://www.today.com/tmrw/5-ways-support-your-black-colleagues-right-now-t183331

Can I rant?

First of all I have never seen such a blatant message that the audience is assumed to be white. The title made me feel so excluded that, defiant as I am, I could not resist seeing the “wisdom” offered by the article. This article embodies what is wrong in America. It shouldn’t be “your black colleagues” but “your colleagues” and we will never get there if we are encouraged to separate ourselves by race

Black people are portrayed as people who cannot handle

I am inserting myself into the conversation with this white author in spite of the fact that I am told that whites need to keep in mind that I am exhausted and traumatized by recent events on top of a lifetime of abuse. I might very well be exhausted and traumatized. A lifetime of enduring racism…well, it can change person. It may not kill you. It might make you stronger. But there are a lot of strong but extremely bitter people. There are also many survivors who revel in thwarting those who would destroy her. But you, good white person that you say you are, would never know that bc you have reinforced the wall that some want built. I just read, in your good white person’s article, that I will be offended if white people express outrage over a crime against a black person. It’s not their tragedy, it’s mine, all mine and they can’t have it! I recall Daffy Duck saying this same thing to Bugs Bunny, albeit on a different subject.

Remember, white people, that I am intimidated by attending meetings in a mostly white work environment, and people who look like me, hard core survivor types like me, have never adjusted to a white environment. I find that hard to believe. The good white author says that on top of everything else I have to handle in society I can’t be expected to overcome the intimidation factor and perform my best on the job. (I believe there’s an implication that my best was never as good as my white colleagues anyway, but I might be making assumptions about the wretched article).

Finally, If good white people want to know best how to support me, a person they see almost every day, I will not want them to ask me, the way they would communicate with, you know, a person. No, good white people should consult various books on race and discuss the issue with other whites, and their (presumably) white therapist.

Am I not to be distressed at the anniversary of Tiannman Square? Am I wrong to feel inspired by the lone man facing the line of tanks because he is not my race or gender? Except in my mind he is my race, the human race. And I will always relate to that man even though I don’t look like him. Moreover, I feel free to express my feelings to anyone in spite of what appear to be differences. Race and gender aren’t the only ways we can separate ourselves. Dog lovers vs. cat lovers. Imagine there was an issue of cruelty to animals and you read that cat lovers can take no more abuse and dog lovers need to understandably keep their insufficient support of cats to themselves and only speak among dog lovers about their support for the other–cats and those who love them. That’s patently absurd. Yet substitute cat and dog with black and white and you can write for a national audience.

No wonder the author has a therapist. Fire that therapist for keeping you a prisoner inside your mind!

Racism is the external manifestation of the walls we build in our minds that keep us locked in, locked away from “them.,” missing the chance to be part if a “we.”

That’s what I’d say to the author who advises whites not to talk to me, a black woman about race and racism against black people. I used to feel this way, I used to affirm the us vs. them, oppressor vs. victim narrative. I remember reading something about Chinese history and thinking about “their” long story. Then, Eureka, the epiphany hit me! Chinese history is human history. All human history is our history, my history. I reject the idea of Black History month. My people marched on Washington, invented gun powder, my people came to the New World on the Mayflower, my people invaded Poland under Hitler. My people were slaves and slave masters.

I* can post this blog as soon as I look up the correct spelling of T. Square and I’m sure many people will relate to spelling struggles no matter their race.