Black Lives Matter- research and awareness

Guilt, Hesitation, and Allyship

There's something I've learned about white people during the Black Lives Matter movement. It's that many of us have a platform, but far too many of us do not use it.

    Most of us aren't informed enough about Black Lives Matter. Most of us just learned about Juneteenth. Most of us are just now realizing how just how little Black history we actually learned.

    If you think about it, a whole month is way too little time to talk about Black history. Especially if your teacher treats that month like a week or a day to talk about Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks (not to say that they are not incredibly important to talk about, however they are the only ones our teachers talk about) in the same way they've taught it for the past twenty years. Maybe they'll show you the same movie that you've seen since elementary school.

    Now say your teacher actually takes that entire month. Will they still cover it all?

    Absolutely not.

    Us white people have been pretty blind to the struggles of Black people across the globe. Especially if we grew up in households with racist family members who don't bother checking in on the news and informing themselves on police violence and the like (I'm incredibly lucky to have a family of decent human beings, but not everyone is.) We all know the educational system has absolutely failed to teach us about Black history. For us teenagers, we're just now starting to wake up, and a major part of waking up is taking action.

    However, in the beginning, it was probably all a bit daunting of us.

    Defund the police? Wait, what? Wait, how do I say this? Is this okay? Am I doing the right thing?

    First of all, if you're taking action, even if you feel like you worded something wrong, you're stepping in the right direction. I've heard so much about people being too scared of being called out to take action. I've heard about people who've found that they feel like it's not their place to talk. Here's the thing: we all need to talk in order to inspire change. It's not Black people's responsibility to teach us and to speak out. We have to use our privilege for good, or else our privilege is being used to support a racist system. It is everyone's responsibility.

    I'm going to break down two factors that I find hold potential allies back:

    Hesitation- You're scared to do something wrong. You feel like it's not your place. Well, it is your place to speak up about racial injustice. You have to take that first step, or else you won't do anything. Start by signing some petitions, that's easy. Just go to change.org (do not donate to them, by the way, it doesn't support the campaigns just the company) and search under racial justice. Then sign some of those and share them via text, email, discord, twitter, instagram, or whatever you're into. It's easy, free, and effective. Also, educate yourself. Make a statement in your bio on social media about racial injustice. Learn things. Share resources. You may be scared, but trust me, it's not scary at all to speak out. Actually, it's far more rewarding than you may realize. By speaking out you can connect to people and find even more resources that will help educate you or find some more petitions. By speaking out you set a good example for others. By speaking out, you're joining the people who are saying enough is enough. Imagine if billions of people spoke out against racial injustice without hesitating. Imagine everyone getting the courage to stand up for others. The world would be a far better place, wouldn't it? Fear is stupid. You're going to make mistakes. You are going to learn from those. Just take that first step and do something.

    Guilt- This one I have a bit more experience on. I've always felt easily guilty about doing something wrong. That mindset is nothing new for me. What I've found is that you absolutely need to change your mindset in order to make the best out of this learning experience. First of all, being called out isn't such a bad thing. It's teaching you something. I'd much rather be called out and learn something than stay in silence and learn nothing. If you get called out, there's no need to feel like trash for two months and not do something, but rather there's a need for you to make a change. Chances are, you simply never learned something. Now you know. Sitting around feeling guilty doesn't help anyone and is not good for your mental health. However, the mindset of If I make a mistake, I'll learn from it and then I can be a better person because of it is not only more helpful, but way more healthy for you. Practicing that mindset will allow you to do more in the future. Don't worry about messing up, and if you feel like you need to check yourself mentally, that's perfectly fine. If you feel like you might be doing something out of bias, check yourself. That's far more valuable than doing everything out of guilt. Checking yourself mentally will help you fix any biases you may have had, any ideals that people put in your head that are not true, and will benefit you in the future. I've created some simple guidelines for myself, although they may be more tailored to me than you. If you feel like you need to make some mental guidelines in order for you to succeed at speaking out, do so.

    1. Never do anything out of guilt.
    2. Learn from the past, don't dwell on it.
    3. If you feel like you shouldn't do something out of fear of getting it wrong, educate yourself. Then your chances of messing up are lowered and you've educated yourself.

    This leads me to another point I want to make- my best remedy for guilt and hesitation is educating myself. This piece holds me accountable for doing that. I need to educate myself in order to educate others, don't I? It's very important that you start educating yourself. You'll soon realizing that speaking out on social media isn't as scary as it seems. People are going to support you. If you feel like you're certainly going to mess up, it's probably because you haven't educated yourself enough. Then, at that point, simply learn some more. It can never hurt.

As for those of you who don't have platforms, texting petitions to friends or giving them to your friends with platforms is helpful. Educating yourself is also super important and it is helpful. If you find things you would put on your platform if you had one (petitions, articles, research) ask a friend who does have a platform to put it up on theirs.

    Now that I've gone through these points, why aren't big names in entertainment speaking out? There are so many white influencers with large followings, yet they don't talk about Black Lives Matter. Why? What's the harm of sharing organizations and articles and petitions? Why are teenagers with 20 followers on Wattpad speaking out more than big names in Hollywood? Why can't they hold themselves accountable for speaking out? Are they scared of getting "canceled" if they do it? Honestly, speaking out is far better than not doing so, and followers should understand that. The black square on instagram was great, but we need to encourage those influencers to keep the conversation going. The black square may have been good to hold onto your followers, but sharing petitions will be good to end systematic racism. Tell me, which sounds better? Black square for followers or petitions for innocent Black people who deserve justice? It's not too late for those people to speak out, and it's never to late for you to do the same.

            Do something.