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Here’s What White People Can Do
This doesn’t involve marching, money or making phone calls.
Exactly one week after a white police officer killed George Floyd, I was on a Zoom talk and the question came up: how can I, as a white person, be an ally to Black people and people of color?
Even though the white woman leading the talk had just said white people need to be allies, she choked on this question and stammered, “Send a quick text. I sent texts to my Black friends and Black colleagues and said, ‘This sucks. I’m sorry. I’m here if you want to talk.’”
I didn’t bother saying what an unhelpful idea that was. I raised my hand and said, “One thing white people can do is speak up when you hear another white person saying something that sounds off. You know the comments I’m talking about.”
This is the number one thing white Americans can start doing today. If every white person speaks up when another white person makes a racist or privileged remark, we can increase our social progress a hundredfold.
The white woman said, “I think that’s great. The challenge is: what are the conversation starters? How do you call someone out? What are the words?”
