Dear Fellow
White People,
Please shut up.
Last night,
violent protests broke out in Ferguson, MO after the
announcement that a grand jury would not be indicting Darren Wilson for the murder of Michael Brown. Since last
night, a good number of you have been acting like complete and total morons on Facebook and Twitter.
Even more than you have been lately, since the
news of Brown’s murder became national news. But it’s been throttled up
to 11 since the announcement and I have hit a breaking point with you all, and
it’s time we have a little bit of a chat.
In the last 24
hours, I have been subjected to an assault of judgement and un-asked-for legal
assessments of the case. I have heard my white friends insist this isn’t
about race, make hypothetical conjecture about what if Brown was white, and I
have heard you all judging the protesters for “burning their own community.”
I have heard you all calling Brown a “thug”, which is the en vogue term
white people use when they mean the n-word (lets cut the bull on that one,
white people, shall we?). I have heard white people insisting they know
what true oppression is like and that race doesn’t matter in America.
Again, please
shut up.
The myth
that “everyone is entitled to their opinion”, is complete crap. Sometimes
you don’t get an opinion. Especially if it’s something you’re grossly
unqualified to comment on. If everyone’s opinion had to
be listened to, then NASA would have to take advice on how best
to launch their rockets from Chad in Des Moines who delivers pizza. Chad has no
idea what he’s talking about when it comes to rocket science, just like white
people have no idea what being black is like. There is not a white person
on Earth who is properly qualified to have an opinion on the Black Experience
in America. Why? You’re not black and have zero clue what the heck you’re
talking about. No matter how many Public
Enemy albums you bought
on iTunes.
Black people are angry. They’ve been dealing
with some stuff, and a lot of that has to do with the police. You don’t
know how the police treat black people, because you’re not black. You
don’t know what it looks like or feels like to be in that position because you
are not and never will be in that position. No matter how many cops you
know or have spoken to, you simply have no idea what it’s like to be black and
dealing with the police. They know what it’s like, not you.
We, as white
people, do not get to tell black people — or any other minority — how to feel
or what level of racism there is or is not in this country. They
experience it, not us. Just because you have a hypothesis about losing a
job over Affirmative Action does not make you an encyclopedia of
oppression. No matter where you grew up, who your friends are, what
you’ve been through — You. Are. Not. Black. You don’t get to tell black
people what to think, how to express their thoughts, and when or when to not be
offended.
When an entire
community is angry enough to set itself on fire, the response does not need to
be “You’re doing it wrong.” The response needs to be “Wow! You’re set
stuff on fire levels of angry? You have our attention.” And that response needs
to be genuine. Stop spouting what you think you know based on some
anecdotes. Black people are the experts on being black and it behooves
you to listen to them — because you are clueless. What with your not
being black and all.
I know nothing
about what black people go through, because I’m not black. All I know is
they’re trying to tell me and I can’t hear over the cacophony of white people
talking about something they know nothing about.
Please shut up.
I’m trying to listen.
Michael
Peckerar
Content Associate
for RantLifestyle.com
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