I've been thinking about how to write this for over a week. I'm still not sure I know. Jay and I watch the news. A lot. Then we watch all the late night tv hosts. In America, our lives are not equal yet. Not when Black men are dying at the hands of white police officers over nothing but a pack a cigarettes. Not when I can't go for brunch or on vacation with my partner without getting dirty looks.
Racism is alive and thriving mostly I think because we have a Hitler running the White House.
My friend called me yesterday and said if you go for a walk this weekend be really careful. There's going to be protests near us and maybe riots, a large group is coming up from the US. I'm white privilege so I'd be a target. First COVID and then we're heading towards civil war in the US.
Guess what? I might be white but I am not privileged. I had a difficult upbringing. I've actually had a pretty shitty life. I was raised in a cult. Men have tried to rape me. Everything I've achieved I've done it alone. I don't understand what it's like to be a person of colour or a minority.
But I can tell you this. My best friend is a lesbian. My best friend before her, until she died of cancer, was Black. My partner is a different colour than me. I have marched in the pride parade. I have embraced different cultures.
I'm scared of what's coming next. More violence? More discrimination? Human rights are for everyone, there is no difference, we can't remain voiceless. I'll say it straight - white people have no right to take advantage of other cultures anymore. We need to be kind. Right now we are NOT. Let's do better. And honour the ones who have passed unnecessarily like George Floyd.
We can't really change who we are on the inside, but we can try. We can try to be better. I try to be better every day, because I know being pretty is not enough. And that's what the world needs right now. Kindness. No freedom till we are equal.
Sullivan out.
