Why Now?
By: Marla Michals
I ask myself this question multiple times a day in many different ways – Why now? Why all of sudden in the last couple of months, do I now feel this overwhelming sense of urgency to start speaking out and educating myself on this humanitarian crisis, (yes this more than just social or political justice issue), when it’s existed for my whole life and more. I attempted to come up with some reasons in an effort to stop the questions from swirling around in my head:
My naiveté’s - I grew up in a predominately white area, almost all white school, with all white teachers and we know we weren’t getting any of this in our history classes
The embarrassing feelings of being more comfortable when I’m not alone in this - I’m seeing more of my friends and colleagues speak out and post and I’m ashamed to admit this has made my journey to use my voice easier
Now, in my late 20s as a career woman I was already on a path that opened my eyes to injustices against women and the feminist movement – This has maybe made it easier to acknowledge the injustices that exist against Black people
But I think what it comes down to is there is no one right reason as to why it’s taken until now to show up, and we all have to accept that. White people were extremely late to this party and I’m thankful Black people still left the door unlocked to come in. I think a huge acknowledgement needs to be given to the Black Lives Matter movement and its organizers. They have brought the topic of racial inequality to the forefront and are doing so in a way that conveys that
THIS AFFECTS ALL OF US. THIS IS NOT JUST A BLACK ISSUE FOR THEM TO DEAL WITH (do I need to say it louder?)
As white people we can no longer say racism isn’t a thing, or make excuses and ignore it when we see it. It’s important for us to respond and act now, because if not now then when? How many more Breonna Taylor’s, George Floyd’s, Ahmaud Arbery’s (and countless others) does there need to be before we finally see this?
Change is important and starts within ourselves and it’s time for us to get off the sidelines and join in the fight. I know it’s a hard pill to swallow, but it’s no longer enough to be passively non-racist, we need to be actively anti-racist. I do understand how hard this awakening can be, and I’ve only just started to do the work. To my fellow white people I don’t want to force this on you, or make you feel pressured into the movement all at once—because then it becomes disingenuous and fake. You need to take the time and go on this journey yourself in a way that feels authentic to you.
(Just remember Black people are dying so tick tock)
“The Black Lives Matter movement woke us up to the power of taking action. We’re awake now, and it will take a conscious decision and intentional work to stay awake.” – Mandela Schumacher-Hodge Dixon.
The best advice I can give is to just do some googling. When you hear things that sound crazy and foreign to you such as defund the police, systemic racism or non-racism vs. anti-racism just google it first and look at different sources, there is plenty out there. Social media has also been used so powerfully in a way that there are countless pretty infographics for posting that do a great job of explaining these issues. They are really making this easy for white people to understand, we have to just want to. I know posting on social media may seem unimportant, and while that can’t be your only step, it is still necessary.
Sharing on social media shows your, most likely 90% white following, that this is something you stand for and support and could open the door for them to feel comfortable and engage in conversations with you because they know you share this.
The other work is harder and takes more time and that’s where I am. It’s not easy to uncover injustices when the system itself is designed to shield me from these oppressions, while actively oppressing Black people. I still have to check myself on a daily basis, on my thoughts, biases, and how I view things, because I’m constantly looking through a lens of privilege. Now, I understand the term “privilege” might offend or put off some people. As someone who has a father who came from a single parent home with pretty much nothing, no obvious “privileges” existed. He worked incredibly hard to get to the top of his career, and I couldn’t be more proud or admire him more for it. So I’m aware millions of white people go through various hardships. But the difference is, none of those hardships are based on the color of your skin.
I know a lot us (myself included) feel overwhelmed and tired with the overload of posting, protests, and information, and that’s okay. Burnout is real. Take a step a back, take a breath, but then push through it. We can’t become so exhausted from hearing about racism, when Black people are out there actually experiencing it. We will make a lot of mistakes and that’s okay too, we just have to learn from them and keep doing the work. This is definitely a marathon not a sprint, so don’t be hoping to just check some boxes over a couple weeks and expect to be done or for this to be going away, because it’s not! Change is happening, and it’s up to us how we want to be a part of that.