Be intolerant of behaviors, not intolerant of people. A thread—

(1) A lot of white people think, “I have privilege, so I should stand in solidarity with BIPOC and never talk to anyone who perpetuates racism.” That thinking is nice and good, but I’ll tell you what’s wrong with it.

(2) You probably know by now that you have unconscious biases too. You’d agree that you have work to do. If everyone in your life decided that you are irredeemably evil and “taught you a lesson” by never speaking to you again, what would that accomplish? Who would that help?

(3) It doesn’t help you, it doesn’t advance antiracism, & yet, that person who “taught you a lesson” is probably feeling pretty smug. If you’re proud of yourself for being a good “ally” without doing anything to advance racial justice, you need to rethink your metric of success.

(4) As a general rule, the right thing is usually the hard thing to do. Swallowing your pride, asking questions, admitting you were wrong— the right thing is usually really difficult. Patting yourself on the back and leaving the antiracism work to someone else? Way too easy.

(5) If every white self-appointed ally decided that they shouldn’t talk with others who perpetuate racism, you’re leaving it all to BIPOC. That’s ridiculously unhelpful. We’ll be the only ones advocating for ourselves, because we don’t get to opt out like that.

(6) Obviously, not all conversations will be fruitful and you have every right to opt out. But when you choose to engage, remember, your goal isn’t to fight people. It’s to help people fight prejudice.