if you are a white person, this is a time of intentionally relinquishing power, or having it pulled out from under you. i know it seems fast and everywhere, but it’s actually not a rapids, not a waterfall, not a tsunami. http://adriennemareebrown.net/2020/06/28/a-word-for-white-people-in-two-parts/

your ancestors did not fight fair, and they didn’t teach you to be in right relationship with anyone. they didn’t give our ancestors time to wonder, ask for help, course correct, negotiate. this is why some say you should be grateful we seek justice, equality, versus revenge.

when you say ‘ok ok so teach me’, we hear, ‘my time and needs continue to be more important than yours. i refuse to google and read, i demand your labor.’

when you say ‘but what do i do?’ it sounds like procrastination, because we have told you a million things.

the white people in my life must align with that mandate – put your lifetime in service of undoing the work of your ancestors, earning the respect of future generations, and being willing to be transformed in the service of the work.

commit to doing your own work without seeking accolades. the point of this moment is decentering whiteness in the story of humanity. that means not centering white course correction w/the attention we give a baby’s first steps. we won’t patronize you…& that should be good news.

redistribute resources. not as charity, which is just another way to assuage the conscience of privilege. redistribute money, decision-making power, land, time in meetings, visionary space, speaking engagements, benefits – if you can measure it, you can redistribute the resource.

right now, after years of physical, intellectual and cultural warfare on peoples who were different from white, you have an opportunity to leap forward, dive into this river of change, rather than be deluged and drowned in it.

learn to say, and mean, ‘i am sorry for the impact of my white supremacy.’ don’t post it on the internet, say it from your heart and gut directly to people you’ve impacted, especially in situations when you were/are in positions of leadership or authority.

don’t revert to supremacy under pressure. it breaks trust. if you are told you are practicing white supremacy, consider that we see and feel things you do not because they’re weaponized against us, weighted against us, scarring us, limiting us.

i am taking the time to write to you because i am a mixed race black woman. i am connected to the same lineages of harm as you, even as i am harmed by them.

the time for denial is over. you were not raised in a secret mountaintop retreat disconnected from the world with no contact for over 400 years…so we know you see and know what is going on. and you’re scared, defensive, unsure of who to be if you aren’t the default superior.