Thread

If you’re a white person in America, chances are good you know someone who thinks the way this person does.

Maybe you went to high school with them.

Maybe you’re related to them.

Maybe you’re married to them.

1/

However you happen to know them, they’re in your life. Whether by choice or by chance, these are your people.

2/

Those white people who think like that and are in your life? They’re your people.

I know some, too. They’re MY people.

I don’t want to claim them as mine. Neither do you.

But we have to.

3/

The FB post I shared is from someone I’ve never - a woman who went to high school with my late wife. No clue how we ended up connected as Facebook friends but here we are: she’s my people now.

4/

You know those random people in your life...the ones you could easily cull from your virtual friend herd with a quick click of the “unfriend” button.
She’s one of those people.

I don’t *want* to claim her as my people.

5/

I could unfriend her. Neither one of us would care. I doubt she’d even notice.

But then I saw the comments start coming in under her post.

6/

People operate inside echo chambers on Facebook. Racist ideas get validated and amplified inside the echo chambers occupied by racists.

7/

White people: if a door cracks open on Facebook and you get a glimpse inside that dark chamber, don’t be silent.

If you don’t have the emotional bandwidth to engage with a racist on FB, just reply to the comment in question and quickly mute/unfollow the person.

8/

I don’t have all the answers - or *any* answers.

My reply to that Facebook post didn’t end up changing that woman’s mind.

9/

But she responded to my comment and we’re having a dialogue. And that’s a start.

P.S. One of her other FB friends corrected her that it was the Capitol, not the White House.

/end thread

Addendum: If you have the misfortune of having racist people in your life IRL, not just on Facebook, you have zero obligation to keep them in your life. Seriously - call them out and lock them out.

I will not share my table with racists and you don’t need to either.