Like many African Americans, Ebony Haight is tired of pretty words and disavowals of racism not backed up by action. It is, she says, your turn to do something about it.
Despite the good intentions of people I love and respect, it makes me angry to hear them say what a hard week it’s been. It has been a hard week. But it’s been hard for a very long time. And by hard I mean heartbreaking.
I mean that each time I have to say another name, I have to sit with the feeling that I live in a country that can’t seem to figure out how to value me. How to uphold my life as something delicate and worth protecting.
I mean that even before the data, I knew Black people would be disproportionately affected by this virus, and then denied access to testing and health care. That’s just the “normal” people are so desperate to return to.
This must be more than another hashtag moment, and there’s plenty you can and should do beyond just posting a thing. You must speak — to your family, your church, your co-workers, neighbors and friends. And don’t just say it’s hard. Say it’s the inevitable result of white supremacist policies drafted into the Constitution and the violent, systemic disenfranchisement of every Black person, every day, throughout the history of our country.