Four Things White People Don't Understand

There are many things White people don’t understand.

Here are four examples out of a million.

Time Travel is a Luxury Black People Couldn’t Afford

White people are obsessed with time travel.

The concept has been the subject of numerous television shows, movies, and books.

A current radio ad speculates what someone might do if they could travel through time. The ideas range from seeing how the pyramids were built to not telling a bad Christmas party joke.

White people love to dream about time travel.

It would be a horrible idea for a Black person to time travel.

Our options would be severely limited.

Where could we go in the past and be safe?

Travelling to the past would be treacherous.

The present isn’t great.

The future? Who knows?

It wouldn’t be worth the risk.

White people are free to travel wherever and whenever they please, and if time travel were possible, they would be free to do that, too.

They sometimes forget that many of us don’t enjoy that privilege.

“Woke” is Only Boring to White People

In an interview, actor/director Clint Eastwood was asked what he thought about being “woke.”

He responded by saying it was “boring.”

He went on to explain that he grew up in places that were diverse, and that people made jokes and kidded around about racial and ethnic differences.

Eastwood doesn’t seem to be a racist. Much of his career would demonstrate that he is the opposite.

However, many White people like him operate while wearing societal blinders.

He may have grown up in simpler times, when jokes about ethnic groups could be made at their expense without fear of retribution. He may have been in situations where minorities made jokes about White people, and the mood may have seemed easy and fun.

The reality is that, then and now, non-Whites are more often the butt of jokes, to an extent that Whites will ever experience.

He and other Whites may have felt free to use racial epithets and stereotypes because it seemed amusing.

What Eastwood and people like him either forget or don’t understand is that non-Whites live their lives dealing with constant insults and racist behavior.

White people may joke and ridicule themselves by using terms like “poor White trash,” “redneck,” and “hillbilly,” but they can afford to make self-deprecating jokes because White people are not viewed by one standard.

The same is not true of non-Whites.

Racial and ethnic stereotypes are applied to us as a whole.

Even when some of us are treated as “exceptional,” or in the past when some of us were called “a credit to our race,” those are backhanded compliments.

Many White people will use “woke” as an insult, but many will use it as a badge of honor.

People Who Voted for the President are Persona Non Grata

Five months after the election, Black people are still removing, blocking, and distancing ourselves from White people who voted for the president.

We don’t want to hear any of that “both sides” nonsense.

We aren’t listening when you say that politics shouldn’t come between people.

We aren’t going to Rodney King the situation and believe that “we all should just get along.”

White people who voted for him voted against us.

They voted for a virulently racist bigot.

Many White people don’t understand that our lives are so precarious, we are very careful about who we allow in our inner circle.

One day, our lives might be in your hands.

There might be an instance where we have to depend on you to say or do the right thing.

The right thing that might preserve our health, our freedom, or perhaps our lives.

White people who voted for the president are not trustworthy.

We don’t have the same feelings for you.

We are not going to argue with you about your reasons for voting for him.

We don’t care why.

You shouldn’t expect things to be the same.

They aren’t the same.

Obama and Harris Don’t Need to Do a Darn Thing

Black people are tired of hearing that former president Obama and former Vice President Harris need to speak up.

Why should they?

Were you listening when they warned you?

They told you what would happen if the president was reelected.

Many of you didn’t listen, and the leopards are eating faces.

Even if you listened to her, Harris ran and lost.

She’s tired.

Obama is tired.

Black people are tired.

Let AOC, Bernie, and whoever talk.

We’re grateful to Cory Booker. He can keep speaking and filibustering to his heart’s content.

But guess what?

He warned you, too.

Our Black leaders don’t need to feel obligated.

They spoke out, and many will keep speaking out.

But don’t blame those who are quiet because they have been talking, and too many people weren’t listening.

Some of Us Aren’t Going to March and Protest

The not-feeling-like-speaking-out also apply to protests and marches.

Some of us will protest and march.

Some of us won’t.

Those that won’t are tired.

They feel like White people need to march and protest.

Yes, the current situation makes us want to holler like Marvin Gaye, but we’re hoarse from hollering.

We’re tired of yelling.

We’re tired of screaming.

Remember this:

· We’re still dealing with our day-to-day stuff, which requires more energy than White people will ever understand

· The day-to-day takes enough out of us that we have to rest and conserve strength, energy, and peace. When NBA players don’t play because they need a rest day, they call it “load management.” Black people must practice load management.

· If you aren’t oppressed every day, you will have more energy to march and protest.

· White women are oppressed because they are women, but they need to find the strength and energy to march and protest. Many of them didn’t listen and voted for a misogynist. Those that knew better need to teach those who didn’t.