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Black people have a lot to be angry about, and regardless of your intention, telling a Black person that their anger is misdirected, too aggressive, or unpalatable in any way is unacceptable. Especially Black women, who are consistently tone policed.
I understand that we’re not all going to love eachother, and I understand that you may not appreciate someone’s approach, but it’s not your place to tell Black women how to be angry, or what to be angry about.
Use your mute button. Have a conversation with your friend. Hell, have a conversation with THEM if you’re genuinely concerned about bad faith or behavior damaging to the movement. But with that being said, you need to remember this is THEIR movement, and we’re here to uplift them
There are a lot of people within our community that I don’t necessary feel personally compatible with, but that doesn’t justify me stepping back from protecting them and putting my ass on the line for them, and it certainly doesn’t justify a public disavowal.
There were a lot of people I really respect and care about saying some really hurtful things this morning, and I was angry. I still am. White people, please remember that regardless of the work you do for this movement, you need to center Black voices, specifically Black women.
This morning’s discourse was so aggressively inappropriate for so many reasons, but I never thought I’d see so many well-informed people argue that a Black woman isn’t palatable enough. That shit hurt, and I sincerely hope there’s some serious self reflection happening.
I love y’all, but you need to do better. We all need to do better.
