White people of america, take a moment to reflect on the reality that many of you have and continue to witness black people brutalized and killed for the better part of a the last decade. A decade of Black People being brutalized and your indifference to it. #YouAreComplicit
As I started my day, I became aware of unrest in Minneapolis, Memphis, Los Angeles. Many in news outlets are characterizing these as ‘riots’. This characterization is wrong. This is unrest. These are communities that have borne the brunt of your collective inaction and indifference on racial, income and social inequality. We did not create the conditions that resulted in this unrest. However you, white america, have and continue to benefit from these conditions. #YouAreComplicit
That may seem harsh however the data backs this up. If you don’t know the data you could believe your eyes. From school funding to property values, you benefit disproportionately from generations of legalized segregation and discrimination. Your communities don’t have power plants and oil refineries. The names Philando Castillo, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd and countless others were not martyred in your communities. But they were martyred by those who protect you. #YouAreComplicit
When you choose not to challenge your family on their racist views during the holidays, you are complicit. When you stay silent after you hear someone perpetuating a racial/ethnic stereotype, you are complicit, when you say or think ‘why are they destroying their own neighborhood’, you are complicit. When you voted for Bernie or Biden, when you had the choice of Booker or Harris, #YouAreComplicit
In the midst of a global pandemic that has killed 100,000 people in the United States, where research compiled by APM Research Lab from 40 states shows that African Americans are dying at almost three times the rate of white people, we have witnessed two unarmed black people killed in the past week. These events are related. And they are related because #YouAreComplicit in the continued atrocities against Black People in America.
