Just remember.

[ellennelle]

5. thank you

so much. this is not said enough, and it needs to be, but BY WHITE FOLKS!

we white folk need to say these things out loud to remind ourselves of all our privileges, privileges we take for granted, just like air.

a few years ago, after losing an extended legal battle that bankrupted me, i realized the many ways the rug had been pulled out from under my security, my stability, and my opportunities. it all came crashing down, while washing my dishes, how much worse it would be for me if i were of color!!!

that moment devastated me; i crumbled in sobs, ironically, of an odd and selfish gratitude, but more of shame, deep and bruising and blistering shame.

i was 18 in memphis when MLK was shot, and i'd thought that moment marked me forever for the awareness it brought me of the whole racist issue. but that more recent, and more personal experience rewrote my script.

i know i can never live inside skin of color, and i would never pretend to have anything like a real clue what that is like. but surely, the more WE WHITE FOLK take your words seriously and say them out loud, the more we will inch toward getting it (as if we ever really could), and the more others will too.

i mean really, people, when you can walk in their shoes, ferchrissake; there but for the grace of god and all that.

because ultimately, the only way racism will come unraveled is for white folk to own our brutally earned shame.