Hello friends,
“You can’t put a Band-Aid over an ocean of blood”. This quote jumped out at me in a recent Instagram reel. And it got me to thinking about how many more people have to die before we take down white supremacy once and for all.
White supremacy is a murderous beast. It has killed millions, maybe even billions at this point, including:
Black people who were kidnapped and enslaved
Indigenous people who were exterminated in multiple countries
People in lands around the globe who were killed so white people could take their wealth
People who died in the Holocaust (never forget that Hitler used the template of the American South, so I think this counts - see Isabel Wilkerson’s Caste for more on this)
All the people who have died at the hands of the police and young men with assault weapons
I’m sure there are many more.
White supremacy is still killing people. It can’t be a coincidence that the most recent incidents in the US have targeted the Black, Asian and Latine communities.
Unless something changes, it will kill again. Getting guns out of everyone’s hands would be a good start. See this article by Gabrielle Stanley Blair which lays out the case.
But we need to go further, and white people - it’s really up to you, every single one of you. Because if the rest of us melanated people had had our way, or had been left in peace, we wouldn’t have had this centuries-long swathe of genocide and death. Plus, we’re tired…
We’re tired of dying and we’re tired of getting blamed for being killed.
We’re tired of the lies about who and what’s responsible.
We’re tired of some 18-year-olds being boys and others being men when it comes time to allocate responsibility and punishment.
We’re tired of existing in a constant state of grief.
We’re tired of the trauma, the wounds reopened by each successive incident.
We’re tired of the gaslighting.
We’re tired of the expectation that Black women and Black people will save us all.
And we’re tired because by the time you read this, it’s likely someone else will have died at the hands of white supremacy.
White people, this is your mess!
As I said in a previous article, this is your inheritance and fixing it is your mandate. Since your ancestors grabbed most of the power, you’re the people who have the power to change the system.
That has to start TODAY. And know that it’s way past time for incremental changes. People are dying. Children are dying. Too many have died already. Too many have been traumatized forever.
So protest and organize. Make change where you are, and then keep making change at every governmental and organizational level - and in every office and everywhere you have even the slightest bit of influence - till this nonsense of white supremacy and this fiction of “race” ends.
Nothing less will do.
Thanks for reading my perspective,
Sharon
Note: I usually publish my monthly update for paid subscribers on the first publishing day of each month, but I thought this was more important. Look out for that update next week.
Image credit: Getty images: John Dickson
© Sharon Hurley Hall, 2022. All Rights Reserved.
I am an anti-racism writer, a professional B2B writer and blogger, and co-host of The Introvert Sisters podcast.
I am a white person myself and I 100% agree with you. We are the problem. We have failed to take responsibility and instead are continuing the abhorrent actions that our ancestors started. It does not matter if I'm a good person or not as a singular white person; what matters is that again and again, white people are the ones perpetuating violence and we are not addressing the problem (removing guns, addressing mental health issues, creating a fair and equal society - because now we have white people who are raised with the idea that our society/economy is a zero-sum game when it is really not).
There was a study that I read (I can share if I can find it again) that demonstrated that when people own up to their mistakes people actually trust that person. For white people, we should be doing that. We should be saying, "We let 400+ years of injustice go for far too long...what can we do?" And then actually do the A through Z that it takes to undo biases, laws, and practices are racist.
But we white people are always so blinded by greed and money that we've forgotten how to function as a society. I don't know where to begin myself. I live in MA with a progressive congressional delegation, but they just a small cog in a broken machine so I've started by addressing and correcting my own biases and now I've paid for your Newsletter. I hope my contribution, while small, will help you produce excellent work and push people to do something.
Ms. Hurley-Hall, I'm not sure if you remember my story, but suffice it say I am new to being exposed to the meaning and consequence to black people racism has. With the help of many black authors, including you, Ms. Hurley I am beginning to understand racism and black people. Not recognizing racism was partly due to my upbring- I had never experienced racism let alone know about it's existence in my life. I call this an explaination, but others may interprete my statement as an excuse.
At anyrate, I agree, it is a time long due, for whites to take ownership of the consequences of their racism. The problem is most whites prove incapable of doing anything about . In short they have dropped the ball. I think alot of black people are realizing this and are picking up that ball. At least to me that is the reality of the situation.