The other day Lady Gaga – the celebrity who started the hashtag #ThisIsNotUS in response to the Charlottesville mayhem – tweeted, "For the Black Community, tell us ways the non-racist white community who loves you can do better to help influence the country? #HowWeDoBetter"

Of course, it is Black people’s job again to educate their oppressors. White liberals are always asking their token Black folk what to do, when it's pretty obvious what they should do. Do something. And stop asking the Black community to blacksplain away your problematic behaviour.

Yet here I am again.

White liberalism

This phenomenon is the perfect example of White liberalism. Late civil rights leader Stokely Carmichael responded to the White liberal almost 50 years ago in "Stokely Speaks: From Black Power to Pan-Africanism", and its words still ring truer than ever today.

What you can do

Acknowledge that this is us. The system is a result of our failures to identify and address it, and how we take part. Despite the sheer abundance of those who seem to despise Trump, the United States was built on the racism that he and his supporters endorse. Remember history. Do not deny it.

Do some research. It is more than half a century ago that the Black community was answering your questions.

It's been several centuries. That's why we're so tired. But there's years of research to look into. Fight your own ignorance.

Then take away the gun from the sick man. Talk to him.

How to get the gun

Just because you don't actively support white supremacy doesn't mean you don't perpetuate it in some way. Stop alienating yourself from racism.

You benefit from it too much to deny your participation. Start calling yourself racist. Because you are too. And once you start realizing it, maybe you can mitigate it.

Realize that Trump is not the only problem. In fact, he is not even the problem. Impeaching Trump will not end racism. It won't even stop the rallies. Trump was empowered by white supremacists.

Not the other way around. Implying otherwise would suggest that White supremacy is new. It is not. It has always been here. I mean, David Duke, former wizard of the Klu Klux Klan, was a member of the Louisiana House of Representatives.

Don't call the recognition of political and socioeconomic disorder divisive. The division has always existed, it is just the cameras and social media that has made the difference.

Drop the love trumps hate stock phrase. Empathy will not save us. It requires the oppressed folk to accommodate their experiences enough so that the privileged folk understand. We see this everyday. What you see as progress is only the realization that our oppression hurts your people too.

And now you respond. When we are killed daily for much lesser things than just protesting our rights. We don’t need safety pins, Facebook banners, or Lady Gaga tweets telling Black people that White liberals love us. We need action.

How to shoot

In the words of Angela Davis, "In a racist society it is not enough to be non-racist. We must be anti-racist." As a White person, can you really be non-racist? If you think that being non-racist is the same as not directly taking part in the activities of White supremacists, then you're wrong. Good intentions don't necessarily influence the outcome. You have to be more than well-intentioned. You have to not be silent in response to the oppression of your peers, and you have to act out against racism.

Stop being nice to Nazis. White liberals will swear that they are our allies. But how can you be our allies when you are also allies of White supremacists? Social pressure wills you to preserve ties to your reputation rather than your alleged sense of morality. You put more effort into not being called racist than actually not being racist. You consider it impolite to contradict your racist friends, not necessary. You see losing a racist friend as a loss, not a benefit. Not only are you normalizing White supremacy, but you're saying it can be your friend. Then, what exactly is encouraging White supremacists to not be White supremacists? Because it's certainly not the President. And they're showing us the gun.

Feeling the threat

Make racism a White problem. Your White privilege has blinded you. You have no idea what it's like to go out everyday hoping the next person you meet isn't racist. Imagine this. Except, wish it were the case. Because this is your chance to respond to racism. You are closer to the gun than I am. But the bullet isn’t facing you. Do better.
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