I've done quite a lot of thinking.

I've done quite a lot of thinking.  I'm now ready to share my thoughts.

**Tl;dr = See yourself out.  This is important.**

I am generally a peaceful person and I have always prided myself on being able to get along with anyone.  I learned at 17 years old when I had my half-black son that love can change minds and that exposure to the "other" can show that it's not so different after all.  I have lived by this lesson for 20 years and I like to think that my family and I have changed lives because we are good, kind, and helpful people.  But I've decided that not everyone deserves us.

Rather than saying "If you disagree with me, fuck off," what I am saying right now is:  If you are choosing to remain willfully ignorant on the topics I'm writing about below, I'm breaking up with you. If you disagree with me, we can absolutely have a conversation and let me be clear:  I think every one of you are worth having a conversation with (either in comments or direct message, it's up to you).  The caveat is that if you don't have an open mind and just want to argue, I'm not doing that.  It means your mind is made up and I'm not wasting my time trying to educate someone who doesn't want to be educated.

**1)  BLACK LIVES MATTER.**

For those of you who say:  All lives matter, I will agree that yes, they do.  Including black ones.  Here is #blacklivesmatter broken down, though:

"Imagine that you're sitting down to dinner with your family, and while everyone else gets a serving of the meal, you don't get any. So you say "I should get my fair share." And as a direct response to this, your dad corrects you, saying, "everyone should get their fair share." Now, that's a wonderful sentiment -- indeed, everyone should, and that was kinda your point in the first place: that you should be a part of everyone, and you should get your fair share also. However, dad's smart-ass comment just dismissed you and didn't solve the problem that you still haven't gotten any!

The problem is that the statement "I should get my fair share" had an implicit "too" at the end: "I should get my fair share, too, just like everyone else." But your dad's response treated your statement as though you meant "only I should get my fair share", which clearly was not your intention. As a result, his statement that "everyone should get their fair share," while true, only served to ignore the problem you were trying to point out."

For anyone who says "blue lives matter," I'm sorry, but I thought it was common knowledge that people aren't born blue.  If you mean that cop lives matter, sure.  But they chose their career path; no one chooses the color of their skin.  Those two things are not equal.  One can be changed; the other cannot.

**2)  IF YOU ARE WHITE, YOU HAVE PRIVILEGE.**

If you are white or white-passing then your skin color has not made your life harder.  It is as simple as that.  Yes, you may be poor, you may be a woman, you may not have had fun experiences with cops (but you're still alive, aren't you?), your life may not be easy for various reasons, but none of those reasons are your skin color.

It is not racist to recognize that we are different.  It *IS* racist to pretend that privilege doesn't exist and that we're all on a level playing field.  We're not.

**3)  THEY SHOULD PROTEST PEACEFULLY, NOT RIOT.**

Black people tried that and nothing changed; in fact, when Colin Kaepernick knelt during the national anthem, white people were outraged.  There are other examples of black people using whatever platform was at their disposal to peacefully make a statement, yet every time the answer to that was "That's wrong!  Don't do it like that!" rather than "I see you and I hear you and we'll change."

Since peaceful displays fell on deaf ears, things have escalated.  It sure is a lot harder to ignore a riot, isn't it?

Riots are akin to this situation:  You tell a loved one about a behavior they have that really bothers you.  Like, REALLY, REALLY hurts you.  And they keep ignoring it or brushing it off or kind of doing something to pacify you temporarily until BAM!  One day they do it again and you blow up at them and maybe it causes a fight and they see how big of a deal it really is, after all.  That is where we are regarding our black brothers and sisters and their allies.

By the way, here is footage of the police harming peaceful protesters; video evidence of the cops being the ones to escalate, which is the opposite of their job.  If I'm not mistaken, it was even a cop who set fire to that Target.  So in a lot of these cases, peaceful gatherings are being turned into more violent displays *by the police.*  If these videos don't upset you, then I don't know what to say to you.

https://slate.com/.../george-floyd-protests-police...

And if your response to this is "Not all cops are bad!" then I would like to say in response:  Not all black people are bad, but they are treated like they are without the benefit of the doubt.  They are murdered in broad daylight by cops like they are expendable.  IT IS NOT OK.

**4)  BLACK ON BLACK VIOLENCE**

Short answer:  Systemic racism.

Long answer:  https://www.vox.com/.../rudy-giuliani-black-on-black...

**5)  CIVIL WAR ISN'T GOOD FOR ANYONE**

Yes, this was said in a comment recently.  My reply:  It was good for the slaves who were freed.  (Screencap in the first comment.)

If Civil War is where we're headed as a country, then so be it.  I'm proudly a black ally.

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If my stance on any of those things upset you then we should talk.  I'm happy to explain any of these points further if you are open to learning, but I'm no longer tolerating people who are blindly refusing to acknowledge the struggle of our black brothers and sisters.  And you don't get to give Shadow a free pass because of my whiteness.  He is black, too.  If you are our friend or family member, then black lives need to matter to you, period.  Those are my terms.  ✊🏿✊🏾✊🏽✊🏼✊🏻

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/05/george-floyd-protests-police-violence.html