I’m a white person. White people aren’t the issue just as men aren’t the issue with patriarchy. You are continuing to make this personal when it’s not and that is one of the biggest impediments to actually grappling with what is happening. The problem is a social system that places white people above black people, and please don’t even try to say that our society does not overtly do that because there is overwhelming evidence that it does. Ask anyone you know to honestly answer if they would like to be treated the way that black people are treated in this country. No one who isn’t lying would answer yes to that question.

Yes, we have made great progress in race relations in this country but that doesn’t mean that we get to stop and rest on our laurels. No one is free unless we all are free; no one is safe unless we all are safe. Perhaps we will never achieve that, but there is no reason that we shouldn’t keep trying to get there.

Telling people to stop talking about racism because it stirs things up is the moral equivalent of telling the sexually harassed woman that she is the one creating problems in the office by reporting it. Time is up for that victim-blaming bullshit! It’s the dominance hierarchy in action, where those who are lower down are expected to learn to stomach what is doled out to them by those with more power. That is not a recipe for peace.