Keep your empathy, white girl. Do something.
People of color are tired of hearing that I’m heartbroken.
They’re tired of black murder resulting in a kind of Black People’s Spirit Week where we whites gush empathy and outrage and get distracted the minute the news cycle changes. Or by the gnat that flies in our peripheral.
Do something is what they say.
What the fuck can I do?
What the fuck can you doooo? You’re a social worker. With a PhD. You’re like a G-level celebrity. You have a platform. If you can’t do something, who can?
So I’ve been thinking these last few weeks. Thinking, and alone. My black friends need a little space from me. Space from me and from COVID and from the vicious cycle of systemic racism that results in us killing them.
I have to DO SOMETHING. I get it. And probably more than clicking the box for recurring monthly donations to Black Lives Matter and Equal Justice Initiative. I hear you, POC.
Been racking my tiny brain for the past week, working to land on an objective that I think is achievable but one that will also make a difference.
Where I land is lofty, but it feels right:
I’m going to try and change the way we fund schools in New York State so we don’t rely on real estate taxes for funding. Seems unfair to expect people who were victims of redlining to be able to fund their school districts with taxes from the real estate that redlining precluded them from getting in the first place. There’s no such thing as equal rights without equal education.
So, pull taxes from some other source and divide it equally among the number of students so that we don’t have some school districts that have a budget of 30K per student while others have a budget of 13K per student. The quality of our kids’ education shouldn’t be contingent on their zip code. That’s systemic racism, right there. Can you imagine if we funded police departments that way (there’s an idea).
I have no idea if it’s achievable, but hell, how achievable was getting a TV show in my mid 40’s? A combo of luck, stubbornness and white privilege is how I landed that first unicorn. So maybe a second one isn’t out of the question.
I’m not sharing this with you to brag about my big idea which may not work. I’m sharing it with you to inspire you to find a way in your own world to Do Something.
Empathy without action is apathy. Protest without change puts us in the same place in 2027 that we’re at right now, all of us scratching our white heads saying, “I can’t believe this is still happening,” and people of color saying “Because you didn’t DO ANYTHING.”
BLACK PEOPLE DIDN’T CREATE RACISM. It’s not their job to FIX IT. IT’S OUR’S.
Because we benefit from the system every day of our lives. If you want to know how, read this.
Challenge yourself to do more than post on social media and cringe at the videos of police brutality. Grab your fucking ovaries and DO SOMETHING.