Dear White People

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thanks tons!

Yeah, when POC are living INSIDE the bodies of LEOs, we can have the discussion of how the death of POC at the hands of LEOs is like abortion.

Until then, it's just another stupid excuse to "yeah, but" the problem.

I should have just watched the video (which was great, thanks!) and then closed down Twitter. I should know better than to read comments on social media. The very first comment was "White shaming at its finest" and went downhill from there. 

Excellent!! TFS

Thank you. That was excellent. The comments after - wow. It sucks that people are such assholes.

Meh. I think he's going to get dragged. Trump cultists will scream that he gave in, those that were horrified by his initial position won't find it authentic.  Also, I have zero fucks to give him.

You really care what Trump cultists say or think?  I would think the events of the past month would make clear that is irrelevant. We’re all done with trying to change their minds. We need to change our own minds, and he has. 

I hope ole Dre becomes the most tackled QB in the history of the game. But my biggest hope is EVERY single black player who committed to PWI instead come play for an HBCU. How many games would your fav team win without a single black player? 🤷🏾‍♀️ Same with HS football. Create all black teams and use them as additional opportunities to mentor black youth. Too much racism in sports that white saviors will have you believe “bridge gaps”. Nah. Black athletes make racists so much money. Agents, owners etc. Or racists who love football but hate Black people. They aren’t deserving of entertainment and should probably take their asses to church on Sunday instead.

It's awful but I think we need to also bear witness to what our white brothers and sisters are thinking, saying an doing.  there are way more haters out there than we want to imagine.  ugh.

I see this kind of sentiment a lot, and honestly, it concerns me, because I see where it could lead.  I've struggled with the appropriateness of pointing this out, since the calls to listen to black voices is so loud.  But if white people built the system of injustice and inequality, then white people might have some idea where the traps are laid to encourage white people to walk away.

Message after message from black people this week, is "We need you, white people." "Don't be afraid of making a mistake.  You will make plenty of them and that's okay.  Do more, learn more and you'll start to stop making them."

White people are very, very bad at all of this.  White people need to see other white people make mistakes, and then white people need to see white people learning to do better, publicly. Sports people, entertainers, politicians, corporate leaders are going be the vehicles to do that effectively. It is going to look ridiculous to black people.  It's going to look insincere to black people.

The thing is, it doesn't always have to be sincere.  Obviously, it would be better, easier, faster if it was sincere.  But keep repeating the right message, even if for wrong motivation, long enough and it will start to sink in.  Same for corporations, it would better if they changed their hiring policies, paying taxes, what they lobby for, extending benefits to all workers because they truly believed in stopping social injustice, but for today, all they really have to believe is that will lose business if they don't.

I get that black people have been waiting for far too long, on the other side of a door, white people haven't bothered to open.  Now, that the door is open, I get the desire to wish for white people to rush through the door, grab swords and start fighting with great skill.  But like I said, we are very, very bad at this.  The system that has led to oppression is full of backup systems and redundancies.  Everything tells us not to look, shut the door.  "Okay, maybe go fight the closest thing to the door, (slavery, segregation, now - police brutality/criminal justice) but then turn around and come back."

If the things white people do today and tomorrow are greeted with, "Don't do that, no don't do that either, nope, nope, definitely not that,"  it doesn't sound any different to white people than all the memes that have been floating around this week.  If the reinforcement white people receive is that their actions are insincere, the backup system will get triggered and instead of taking baby steps through the door, white people will give themselves permission to close it instead.

All people need positive reinforcement.  Not cookies, but, "You took a wobbly, tottering, step forward.  Keep going.  The finish line is that way."  Or simply, "What are you doing/learning next?" A probably bad analogy, is that people of color are at post-graduate level, and white people are straggled out somewhere behind.  How far do you think most white people are pre-K, elementary, high school, college?  So what level work should be expected?  White people need practice, practice, practice.

While it is understandable to be frustrated by having to wait for white people to get up to speed, are there shortcuts?  There are so many reasons to doubt that this time is any different.  But as a white person, this time feels different. Even all the things that look ridiculous and insincere are happening at a rate that they never happened before, by people who wouldn't engage before.  Continue to fight at the Pro-level you are at, you don't have to slow down.  But give white people a little space for our ridiculously looking education and practice to play out. But certainly continue to check in to make sure we are still moving in the right direction, with some speed.  

Thank you

If I may, as a Seattle Seahawks fan who loved seeing SF on the schedule for the weekend game, because our defense owned Kaepernick... there were football reasons for SF to move on from Kaepernick at the end of 2016.   Since then they have a new coach and a new GM and therefore a new FO.  Kyle Shanahan should be able to speak and judged on his actions and not saddled with the mistakes the organization made before his arrival.  Richard Sherman left my team to go to the 49ers and I don't think he would have done that if he didn't see a culture he could work in.

The problem is with what happened next. In response to the Seahawks Tuesday statements, I saw a lot of "you should have done more for Kaep." Despite having Russell Wilson, and that a backup QB in Seattle would be nothing more than "a guy holding a clipboard" they did schedule bringing him in, and it appears it got nixed by the league.  The same system that limits opportunity for POC, also limits opportunity for white people to help, especially individually.  A backup system.  Even if coaches, GMs and an owner willing to go one way, if you have the NFL, the sponsors and the fans fighting in opposition, that's a tough hill to climb.  The NFL's statement might also seem "too little, too late" and performative, but not being a roadblock against the teams wanting to improve can make a difference.  Sponsors and some fans have moved beyond their 2017 positions too, so we will see what happens when the NFL returns. 

But I rolled my eyes very hard too, when I saw the SF 49ers black square.  And what bothers me more, are the teams that were slow to react, to even look performative, if they have even reacted at all (I haven't looked to see what statements or not the other teams have made).  I just looked at the Cowboys FB, "We have begun conversations..."  Please, what is this, a corporate merger?