Hello, friends,

As I write this, 10 people are dead in Buffalo, NY, most of them Black, murdered by a white teenager with white supremacist ideals and the N-word on his AR-15. My thoughts are with their friends and families, and all those who mourn. 🙏🏾💔

As many did, I felt the news viscerally. This young man went hunting for people who looked like me. He grabbed his gun and set out to kill Black people.

Somehow, he managed to turn in his gun and be arrested, when a Black man in the same position would already be dead. Sit with that thought for a minute.

This wasn't a "racially motivated crime"; it was RACISM. Our failure to name it as such makes it impossible to deal with. If you can't even say the words "a white guy set out to kill Black people because of racism", what hope is there that we can fix the problem?

If you can't name and identify the different ways Black people are mistreated in white majority countries and spaces, how can you start to address those issues?

Two years after the murder of George Floyd, despite all the promises of action, it feels like we're no further forward. Black people are more vocal about the racism we face, and more white people are listening, but it isn't enough.

Some white people have abandoned the fight, because it's "too hard". What a privilege it is to sit back while Black people die.

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If you do nothing, you align with the oppressor.

But you don't have to. You can help drive change.

We are not addressing the problem of white supremacy globally. We are not making it hard for racists and bigots to get hold of guns. In the US, not enough white people are helping to vote out racists.

We are not even close to eliminating racism.

And we must.

You - white would-be allies - must. Your ancestors caused this problem, and the need for a solution is your inheritance and your mandate.

We may all in be in this together, but only some of us are paying the highest price. Most Black people don't have the systemic power to effect change, so it's up to you white folks to undo this mess.

Because we can't take much more.

Thanks for reading my perspective.

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Sharon

© 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. If you value my perspective, please consider upgrading to a paid subscription.