POC who live here in America:
I realize you’re hurt by the ignorant words of “white people” who don’t know what they’re talking about, and I’m sorry.
But I have a question for you. In this “land of the free”…aren’t you free? What are their words doing to you, unless you LET them affect you? I thought this was a free country, where people were allowed to speak their minds, and other people were allowed not to listen.
But maybe I was wrong. Maybe the words of people are so strong that it’s impossible to stand up against them. Which is sad, and basically means our country is full of weak people.
No matter what race or gender I am, I would never let people’s words affect me. Don’t you realize they’re just words? Words are not physical, they will not capture and torture you. They won’t keep you from getting a job (and if your race is keeping you from getting a job, that’s the owners problem, not every white person), and they won’t kill you.
Unless you let them.
So take pride in who you are and stop listening to stupid people. It’s that easy. Once you let go of worrying about what other people think, your life will be a hell of a lot easier. And a lot less stressful.
Empower yourself. Empower your own life.“once you let go of ‘worrying what people think and say’, then magically all this will disappear! “
“RACISM CAN’T AFFECT YOU UNLESS YOU LET IT!!!”
This is what they want you to do people of color. They want you to ignore what they do to you. They want you to take the verbal abuse. They want you to live in the worst housing with the worst environment. They want you to go to the worst schools. They want you to eat the food that isn’t fresh and has less nutrition. They want you to work your life away so that they can live in safe fenced in White neighborhoods while you risk your life on the streets. And they want to shoot you down in those same streets…. and tell you that you let it happen. They say, “Hey, Kimani Gray… why did you let the police kill you?”
They want you to believe that if you don’t accept all their abuse with a smile, then you are weak.
But it has always been them who has been weak. It is them who hide behind guns. Them, who almost died at Plymouth Rock. Them who needed us to build America. … not the other way around. It is THEM who is the minority in this world… not us people of color. We are many… and we are strong!
And the time will come when they will understand just how strong we are and just how weak they have always been.
But that time won’t come until we believe in our own strength and the strength of our voices.
Until that time, for the love of God, do not let a White person trick you into thinking that ignoring the problems of this world is the solution. Not when you have Assata… not when you have MLK… not when you have Moses in the Bible.. not when you have so many revolutionaries who did not ignore their world… who stood up defiantly in the face of their oppressors and said “NO!”
And I thank God for our ancestors who said “No!” and the future generations will thank God that you said “No!”
