You are a part of the problem. If you’ve crossed the street as black people are approaching, you are part of the problem. If you avoid being in *that* neighborhood, you are a part of the problem. If you’ve felt inconvenienced by a language barrier, you are a part of the problem. If you have ever said “But you’re Black/Asian/Hispanic?” you are part of the problem. If your face still gets cherry red when we talk about race, you. are. a. part. of. the. problem. If no one has told you by now, racism is a system this country survives on. It surrounds us like the air we breathe from workplace practices to our most personal relationships. Quickly get through your skulls that these terrorist are homegrown. They are fed the notion that they are entitled to our bodies, our minds, and our spirits. They are fed the notion that people of color only exist insofar as their proximity to whiteness. And you are fed this too. In school. At church. In media. At Home. So what are you going to do about it? Share a post and move on until it happens again? Or are you gonna talk to your racist relatives, you know, the ones you LOVE telling me about as a way to differentiate yourself from them? Well guess what, that’s your family, and this behavior is your heritage. So don’t think you can escape it, because no matter how hard we try, we can’t. More than anything, I wish people of color would be left alone. And yet, we are expected to hold your hands through these tragedies. No one told you this was happening to us because you benefited from it. We are not carrying you through this. Work through this, because the sooner you heal from the indoctrination of white supremacy, the better off we will be. Do the work. Challenge yourself to think about the ways in which YOU help perpetuate this behavior, at large and in nuance. Your silence, your inaction, your indifference, leads to death. Own that, and do something about it. —— “Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings” by Lorraine O’Grady. This photo is from her “Body is the Ground of my Existence” Gallery. Look her up.