Dear White People,

For so many Black Americans, the key to our survival is watching you. And this doesn’t stem from a desire to be you, but rather to learn how to make you comfortable so you will in turn let us live, hopefully. Every Black person knows what I mean, and I think deep down - you know too. It is when we use “proper English” or that certain pacifying tone with you. Or when a Black person will let you walk through the door first, or will nod encouragingly when talking about things like politics or crime without ever really sharing our opinion on the topic. I’ll admit, with a fair amount of shame, that I am frighteningly good at making you comfortable. Whether it is prep school or Democratic politics or having a compassionate family, I’ve learned to be fluent in giving you a shoulder to cry on or making you feel better when you are down. And I have, to our mutual detriment, absolved you of your racism by being very understanding and forgiving.

But, I’m tired, the country is on fire, and I can’t hold my tongue any longer. 

It is time for you to wake the fuck up and stop pretending that you are somehow different from the terrorists that stormed the Capitol last week. They are not only your family, friends and neighbors, but also the people that you’ve coddled by making the “white working class” a mythical figure beyond reproach. Who you’ve bent over backwards to appease, by explaining away their behavior or by always making policy or political decisions to curry their favor. Donald Trump is not an aberration. He is 400 years of systemic, pervasive racism coming home to roost. This heinous violence is the culmination of the Republican Party and Democratic Party fighting for your sacred seal of approval. It’s members of the media privileging your “economic anxiety” over that of marginalized people. And if you truly think that the very institutions which were designed to keep YOU comfortable and happy, are the way to heal this utterly broken country - you are even more lost than I thought. 

Signed, 

Olivia aka Not Your Mammy