Navigating White Supremacy is one of the most difficult parts of life as a Black person. [View all]

[brer cat]

This was posted on LOWPAWS (League Of White People Against White Supremacy, a closed FB group) by a friend of the author who gave permission to share. It is real and on point; it is raw and powerful. It literally took my breath away. For the allies here who need something to share with friends and acquaintances who just don't "get it", this is as clear as it gets.

I still struggle to wrap my head around the fact that I live under a system that does not require ANYONE to be mean to me in order to oppress me.

It's like I'm hanging off of a cliff, and there are nice white people sitting on the edge of the cliff, complimenting me on how nice my hair is, and telling me how smart I am, but NONE of them are trying to get me off the edge of the cliff. They're just sitting there, being nice, watching me slowly slip to my death.

Then, when I start yelling at these nice white people to help me, they don't understand. You have to understand something, I was BORN on the cliff. I've learned how to survive on this dangerous cliff, so to them, they see my learned survival as being "normal." They don't know what it's like to live on this cliff though. They just know I've always been there. They're like, "But I didn't put you on the cliff! You were already there when I got here. I've been so nice to you! How can you yell at me and be so mean to me?" Then I start feeling like shit. I start to believe I'm a bad person.

Then they do little things... like offer me a drink of water. Or hold one of my hands for 5 minutes. Just enough to feel like they did SOMETHING, so that they can hold that over my head when I start yelling for help again. They're like "but I'm not kicking dirt on you! I did something!" But is that enough?! Your minimal effort is doing nothing. Am I supposed to thank you for this basic shit you're doing? I'm not thankful, I'm tired and angry and dying.

I'M HANGING OFF A CLIFF AND NO ONE IS TRYING HARD ENOUGH TO SAVE ME! One person can't pull me off the edge. It will take several of yall nice white people to pull me back over. BUT YALL GOT TO OPEN YOUR MOUTH. YOU GOT TO WORK TOGETHER TO GET ME OFF THE CLIFF. Being nice to me ain't getting me off the cliff. Talking to ME about my life on the cliff ain't convincing other people to come help you get me off this cliff. You gotta talk and work with the other people who are with you. I can't tell you this nicely and hang on to this cliff. How else am I supposed to act? How patient am I required to be? These nice white people didn't put me here, but they are keeping here by doing nothing (or the bare minimum). How am I supposed to reconcile "nice people" with "allowing me to die from complicity?"

I can't. For my own survival, I can't. This shit has me so fucking depressed. I don't WANT to hate white people, but what other emotion am I supposed to derive from their actions?"