Waking Up During a Wave of White Supremacy

Don’t ask Black people for more.

This morning I woke up to videos of white supremacists marching with torches.

Last night I attended a vigil for someone who died in segregated Black Baltimore.

The white supremacists in Charlottesville are literally marching to keep places like Black Baltimore, and other economically starved areas of the country, the same.

White supremacy is pervasive. It infiltrates every part of our society. It takes everything. And yet white people are demanding more.

When people ask me about being abolitionist, sometimes I tell them about the abstract; fighting against mass incarceration and cop brutality. Sometimes I tell them about redlining and segregated schools and predatory lending and discriminatory laws. And sometimes I can point to a sea of white men screaming Nazi and KKK salutes, and say: “That. That’s what we’re up against.”

The “alt-right” white supremacists is rising because white people were cool with being silent. No other reason.

I get a lot of direct messages on Twitter. I try to message almost everyone who who follows me, both to check in to see if they need anything, and to verify that they’re real people. And I also get a lot of messages from people who just want to know what to do.

Many white people, recently woken up by the gruesome death of Heather Heyer, are brand new to standing up against white supremacy and are mired in their own guilt and shame. Many Black people who come from long legacies of fighting against oppression have messaged me too; frustrated how the progress they’ve made falls in deaf ears, or by the hand-wringing of the previously described white “allies”, or just burnt out by the trauma in general.

For the latter Blacktivists; take care of yourself. Make sure you take time for self-care and healing. There’s a lot of trauma out there.

For the former white people wondering what to do; there’s a lot to do. There is no shortage of books, articles, essays, listicles, step programs, active and passive actions, and instructions on what to do next. People have literally written syllabi on how to get involved. And it’s up to you to take the next step.

The Ten Point Program of the White Panther Party, a group of white people dedicated to ending white supremacy and supporting the Black Panther Party.

If you still don’t know what to do, if you’re able, put your body on the line. Physically get in the way. Stand your ground. If you don’t feel comfortable joining a Black Lives Matter protest because you don’t want to speak for someone, protest a white supremacist rally.

The “alt-right” white supremacists is rising because white people were cool with being silent. No other reason. People said racist things about a Black president and about Muslims and about immigrants and nobody stopped them. I get the argument for free speech. I get it. But nobody looked at them and said “your racism is fucking disgusting.” And so it continues.

Freedom of speech also means you have the power to use your voice to speak against bigotry and tyranny. Not using your freedom of speech to speak against someone who spouts white supremacy is an insult to those who’ve gone before.

Some of your ancestors literally fought nazis while you wring your hands not knowing what to do. Wake the hell up. And if they didn’t? Now’s your time. White supremacy never went away. It never went silent. It was never beaten.

A tiny group of 17–20 year olds stood huddled under a banner that said “VA Students Against White Supremacy”. They went out knowing they could have been harmed. They were surrounded by a throng of angry white men.

When it comes time for your story to be told, for your legacy to be written, what will they say about you?