"The Hate U Give"

We had our second Anti-racist club night.  Our family watched/read  “The Hate U give” and discussed “the talk”  that Black parents have to teach their children to survive in our world, microaggressions, over-policing, racial profiling, how peaceful protests can turn violent quickly especially with militarized police, and how change can happen when a community works together. 

Here’s what we came up with to work on this month…maybe you could join us.


It would be easy to respond  - “I’m not hurting Black people.  I love everyone.   Why do I need to be involved in this? “

But.. the problem is it’s embedded in our culture. We are all indoctrinated. Our culture continues to devalue Black lives in small and big ways and accept what’s going on as okay and normal.

Some solutions feel so big and out of our hands right now ( like re-structuring the police) so once again we need to look inside and start asking, “In what ways am I part of the problem? What businesses, movies, books, teams, platforms do I support that continue to denigrate BIPOC?”

We need to ask these questions of ourselves and within our sphere of influence and our answers can in small but real ways lead to change. 

(This is also true for Human trafficking.  “In what way am I part of this problem?  How can I help?”)

Everything that changes in the world begins in a person’s mind.  This means that to change YOUR world you have to start with YOUR mind. Change your thought patterns.  Open yourself up.  Get curious.  “Maybe I’m wrong about that?  How can I do better?  That’s interesting that people react that way..I wonder what’s going on there?  Who can I vote for to change policy and laws to help this situation?”

It’s easy to be a performative ally— joining in on Black lives matter when everyone is on the social media bandwagon.   It’s harder when the conversation has died down.    We need to keep at it anyway because it’s so vital for positive change to happen in our country.   We as white people are the only ones who can change this. We are the majority. We are the problem.

Last thought:  Courage is required for advocacy because criticism is guaranteed.