By Michelle Ferrigno Warren,
Advocacy & Strategic Engagement Director
To my people-the white ones,
I am glad you are marching. I am glad you are feeling a sense of outrage. The movement is kindly allowing you to join so please quickly learn your place not just for this moment but for the movement toward racial justice and healing. As a long-standing, white ally. here are a few suggestions:
Serve the movement:
- Your wokeness is not an opportunity to perform
- Marching doesn’t absolve you of your white supremacy, deal with your inner demons
- Don’t share pictures further tokenizing people of color & boosting your inner-white savior
- Watch, listen and learn from the voices closest to the pain and do what they say
- Sit in the back of the proverbial bus, on the floor – this is NOT your Rosa Parks moment
- Choose to go beyond marching and confront power that perpetuates racial oppression
Stay at the table:
- At the table you are going to hear new things that hurt your feelings, don’t leave
- At the table you are going to have to work alongside people you might not agree with, don’t leave
- At the table you are going to be asked to use your voice to help white people understand – do it
- At the table you are going to be asked to give up your power by leveraging it, resolve to do that work no matter what it costs
Help your people:
- Bring your fully integrated self everywhere you go; don’t play two-sided games
- Don’t going looking for a fight, use your story, share your brokenness; don’t shame & judge others who are not there yet
- Invite people to join and follow the leaders you are following, don’t become the leader
- Don’t give up. Learn from your mistakes and keep trying
- Above everything, walk humbly.
I truly believe that if white people were to simply focus on walking humbly, our loving mercy and doing justice would not only look completely different, but it might get us the justice we long for.
