Dear Fellow White People: It’s Time To Stop And Listen

Why are we so offended?

Why is it when minorities start to speak out against the prejudice and injustice they’ve been up against for centuries, our first reaction is to deflect and justify ourselves instead of mourn with them?

You aren’t a part of the problem solely because your skin is white, but you become a part of the problem when you refuse to recognize your privilege and try and drown out the voices of your POC brothers and sisters.

You become a part of the problem when you are more upset about mega-corporations being looted and vandalized than an innocent man being murdered in cold blood.

We don’t know what it’s like to feel like a target every day of our lives solely because of the hue of our skin. We don’t know what it’s like to be afraid to walk down the street, always looking over our shoulders, or the surge of fear that rises when getting pulled over by a cop. We’ll never understand. But we can try, and we can listen.

Stop talking and start listening.

This is the first step to healing. This is the first step to change.

I especially see this pattern among Christians. We should know better. We should be the first to mourn and stand with those who are heartbroken and filled with righteous anger over the atrocities that are being done to the Black community.

That is precisely what Jesus calls us to do.

He doesn’t call us to defend ourselves against a nonexistent threat to our ego, but he calls us to use our voice to protect the downtrodden and abused.

Stop being blinded by heartless politics or your subconscious prejudices.

We need to continually check ourselves and react with compassion and grace instead of our default mode of defense and denial.

Listen to your Black friends, your Black neighbors. Listen to them. Let them be angry. Give them space to be upset and afraid. Give them grace as they process the terrible state our world is in right now. God knows they need it.

We need to listen instead of react.

And the truth is, racism is deeply interwoven in the history and fabric of our country. This has been going on for centuries, it’s just evolved with time. And it’s time for us to stand beside our fellow humans and demand it to stop.

Racism has no place in our country anymore.

And we need to start using our privilege and platforms to be allies to the black community. We need to shut our mouths and listen. Stand beside them silently in solidarity, and when we do speak, it must be to defend and support, not deny and deflect. Stop defending yourselves against a nonexistent threat to your ego or a seeming slight to your chosen political party and start defending those who truly need it.