A white voice on black lives matter

I've been torn over whether or not to write this blog post. On the one hand, I've never been one to shy away from controversial topics such as politics and feminism (for the record, I don't think this or feminism should be controversial). On the other hand, I'm conscious of the fact that I'm a middle-class white woman and I fear that my voice on the subject could come across as ignorant, naive or tone-deaf. However, I decided that the BLM fight is not one for black people to fight alone; it needs white voices and white allies to make a real difference. And sometimes it's better to risk saying the wrong thing than to say nothing. So below is me using my platform to speak on the parts that I feel I can educate/help on. And then when my voice is silent, my ears and heart are wide open.

Why I'm anti-racism not non-racist

I've seen a few posts over the last few days from people saying that it's not enough to be quietly non-racist, they must now be actively anti-racist. Perhaps bigheadedly, I would've already put myself one step above that and would've said that so far I've been quietly anti-racist; offering a passionate opinion on the subject when it comes up (including arguing with family members about it) but not necessarily bringing it up regularly enough.

I'm well aware of the unconscious biases ingrained in myself and society. I believe that fighting racism starts with ourselves; challenge why you naturally believe certain things and take a proactive approach to changing that.

As horrific as the injustices that black people face are, I think that winning this fight starts smaller. Racism isn't just black people being killed by police officers, or receiving racial abuse. It's smaller. Sometimes even so small, that as a white person you may not notice it. It's bouncers being more likely to let a large group of white people into a club than they are a large group of black people. It's foundations making 15 pale shades and only 1 or 2 shades suitable for black people. It's seeing only a few black people or POC in your year at school, in your workplace, in your university. It's receiving only images of white people when searching 'man smiling' (for example) on websites like shutterstock, and having to add the word 'black'. It's not seeing black men or women as the leading roles in predominantly white films. It's things being described as 'skin coloured' that are the colour of white people's skin.

This, for me, is what white privilege is about. Yes, it's also about the fact that we don't have to fear for our lives on the basis of the colour of our skin (I'm by no means dismissing the larger or more important factors). But for a lot of white people, this may be the first time they've noticed these things. Because white people don't have to notice these things; they can get on with their day without giving these things a second thought. And if you still aren't getting into your head the privilege that you possess just by being white, ask yourself if you'd like to be treated how black people are treated. Would you trade places given the chance? I'm guessing the answer is no.

This is why you have to challenge yourself. To begin to try and see things through different eyes; through eyes of diversity. Don't let things pass you by just because they don't jump out at you. For example, within my career I've managed a number of blogs and social media feeds and have used websites like shutterstock. If I'm searching for relevant images to the pieces I'm writing/posting then it would be easy to have an all-white feed, simply because those are the images that appear. I have to make a conscious effort to diversify and look for images of POC but this is something that I actively do. It's small, but if everyone did only a handful of small things then we might start to make a big difference.

Why I didn't do #blackouttuesday

I got the intent behind it. I really did. But what started as a day to pause everyone's personal posting to focus on the BLM movement, became a day of token gestures and nothing all too useful. My whole instagram feed was filled with black tiles, mostly with the caption as just #blackouttuesday. But who is that helping? Yes, it's a nice show of solidarity. But apart from that? You're not educating, you're not donating, you're not posting a call-to-action - you're effectively exempting yourself of any real change by appearing to be part of something bigger. But equality is not an instagram trend and it needs people to care more, not just post a black picture. Especially since for a lot of the people I saw posting the black square, that was the very first thing they've said on the issue. Not even a measly retweet speaking of the injustices or the wider cause. Imagine that the very first thing you're saying about the black lives matter movement is that you're staying silent on it?

I mean, I did in theory participate in the black out. I didn't post any personal pictures or anything like that and I did take the day to reflect and think harder about how I can help. I just thought that posting the blackout image was a little theatrical. I didn't need to tell people that I was off reflecting and if everyone had taken the same approach and just stayed SILENT then it would have provided an empty platform for black voices and those who can provide more insight and education on the matter. Because now more than ever, is the time for NOISE rather than quiet in my opinion.

What I plan to do now

Can I just say how disappointed I've been with most big brands responses to this fight? I've been seeing A LOT of black instagram tiles, of quirky illustrations demonstrating how they stand with the black community and that they must do more. But what's been glaringly obviously missing is a plan. HOW are you going to do more? I will give a little shoutout to Bloom and wild who are pretty much the only brand I've seen who've detailed what they're doing (featuring more black people in their marketing, reviewing their influencer base and strengthening their diversity policy). Most of them are simply using their platform to ask us to sign petitions, donate to causes and raise awareness (which, of course, I am doing). But in the coming days, I'd like to see more brands putting forward exactly what their plan is, rather than just posting token words of solidarity.

When it comes to myself, as I said, I've been anti-racist for a long time. And I stupidly believed that that was enough. To hold myself accountable and to feel angry about the injustices that happen in the world and to know that I'm personally against them. But if all anti-racists just continue to be quietly anti-racist, while racists continue to be loudly racist then we will continue in this exact stalemate for years and generations to come. It's time to educate, to change people's minds, to make them aware. I know plenty of people who are not necessarily racist, but aren't passionate about equality either (perhaps believing it not to be their problem). Those are the people we need. Dismantling racism that is hard-wired into people's heads is not an easy task, but getting the impartial people to believe in the cause is in reach. That's something we can all aim for.

Another thing I've been naive about is empowering black people. I'm a lover of black culture, black cuisines, black music. I love examples of black excellence like Hamilton. I lovingly borrow from black people and yet when it comes to businesses, I don't actively seek out black-owned ones. I've just always thought 'I'll shop with brands I like irrespective of race and that's equality' but we need more than that. We need more than colour-blindness during this stage of the fight we're in. Hopefully some day we'll get to a stage where that stance is the norm, but for now, we need to proactively raise black artists, influencers and black-owned businesses up.

The same applies with my instagram feed. Ashamedly, I've never really noticed the lack of diversity on my social media feeds and I think it's time I started to help build up more black influencers. This is tricky for me because I don't like influencers with big followers that put together very put together content - I like instagram to still resemble real life, not a magazine. So it may take some time to find some new black people and POC to follow but I'm going to do this more proactively.

I also think that the art we consume matters. Over the last few days, I've seen a lot of shows and books that people have recommended which are all about racism and the experience of black people. Things like Dear white people and When they see us (which I started a while ago and found to be heartbreaking). As much as these kind of shows are critically important, I also think we need to focus on the positives. Find shows that illustrate black people in their everyday-ness (like This is us), find shows that illustrate powerful black women (like How to get away with murder), find shows that illustrate the good, the bad and the ugly of black lives (like Orange is the new black). I hope that we get to a point where black people are viewed the same as white people in hollywood (as well as everywhere else of course), and we start to get black leading ladies, mixed leading couples and black heartthrob men without the film being about racism or blackness. I already love TV shows that teach me more about everyday black culture so my goal in this area is to seek out more books written by black authors and/or with black central characters that teach me further.

No one has said that this fight is a fair one or one that's easy to win. We may not have it quite as bad in the UK (not because racism isn't horrifyingly rife here but simply because our police force and citizens aren't legally armed), but this is a global fight. One that will be won through solidarity, selflessness and compassion. Journalists and media outlets need to be held accountable for the way they report on black people and black issues, big corporations need to be held accountable for their diversity and equal opportunities policies, the police need to be held accountable for any biases or prejudices and be educated to the point that those are squashed. It goes without saying that those with out-and-out racist views (those beyond the point of education) should not be hired by any establishment, or given any kind of platform and they certainly shouldn't be put in charge of a country. Look inside yourself and find what you can do to play your part.