In my travels around this country, both in person and online, I meet lots of white people who fancy themselves woke.
They feel this way because they're now aware (perhaps for the first time) of the brutality of our Government, and just how infected with bigotry and supremacy it is.
They're starting to become aware of the unearned privilege of their pigmentation; the countless advantages they've had, simply by showing up and being white.
They're beginning to listen to the stories of oppressed and vulnerable people, and in doing so are coming to terms with the systemic brokenness that they have benefited from and unknowingly participated in.
Sure, it could also be a bit of self-preservation.Maybe the terrors have finally gotten too close to home, and they can no longer ignore what has been, for so many, a reality they never had the luxury of ignoring.Maybe their cloistered bubble of imagined white safety has been newly burst by the indiscriminate violence of this Administration, and they're experiencing a fear that is new to them.Maybe it's because the contaminants of this presidency have finally reached the groundwater of their daily existence.Or, maybe they simply do see something they didn't see before—and they are rightly heartbroken.
Whatever the reason, their eyes have been opened.
The problem is, too many of their mouths are still closed.
Despite the desperate state of this nation and how dire the moment is, I still see a disturbing widespread white procrastination right now: too many people seemingly waiting for a future moment they will step fully into the fray, take ownership of their convictions, and sustain the collateral damage of pushing back against the wall-builders and the book-banners.
They're still doing risk analysis; still weighing the costs of expressing their new revelations, still tiptoeing into activism, still concerned about the people and station they will lose if they say more than they're saying.
White friends out there, if you're waiting for the moment when the pain of marginalized and vulnerable communities outweighs your inconvenience at speaking up, that time has come and gone. You need to stop waiting.
There are people in these very moments, living with great urgency because they don't have a choice. You and I need to choose to share their urgency.
This Administration is filled with other white people who are bent on doing tens of millions of people harm.
They believe that LGBTQ people are a moral plague to be wiped out. They believe Islam is a terrorist faith tradition threatening their Christian theocracy.They believe non-white people and non-Americans are a danger to be eradicated.They believe that women are inferior and shouldn't have autonomy over their own bodies.They believe America is their birthright and property.
And you may not share any of these beliefs. You may vehemently disagree with all of them, but you don't get points for your disagreement if that disagreement happens in silence.
Your internal outrage isn't really all that helpful if you say nothing.
So you need to say something.
You need to speak clearly and loudly, to be precise in your objections, explicit in your proclamations, and clear in your position.
Yes, you'll likely lose people, perhaps people you need to lose.And yes, you will experience unwanted relational turbulence. These are waters that may require troubling.Yes, raising your voice might cost you comfort in your church or advancement in your career or peace in your family or belonging in your neighborhood.If any of these things do happen, congratulations, you're just beginning to have the slightest understanding of what marginalized people experience as a matter of course.
If you're not feeling the blowback from your activism, you're probably not all that active yet.
In this season of America, white friend, there is no virtue in hidden values.
You don't get points for the things you believe but never express.
Authenticity always has a personal price tag, but the people whose lives are very truly in danger in this moment, and a nation hanging in the balance, deserve us to be willing to pay that price.
Waking up is good.Speaking up is golden.
The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
