Thread by @VABVOX

I lost over 100 followers this week standing up for WOC being attacked by white women.
I'm sorry to have lost them because it means those folks missed the point.
White people have an obligation to POC in America because of the damage #racism inflicts even if we aren't #racist.
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The hardest words in any language are "I'm sorry."
Acknowledging our flaws goes against ego.
But it's essential.
I know I am a strong person with strong Socialist politics.
I know I can be intense.
But I am a fiundamentally kind person who doesn't want to hurt people.
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At times I know I <have> hurt people--we all have.
And that is my point: If people tell you you have hurt them, listen.
I don't mean casual snark, but hurt.
Listen.
Say you are sorry.
Repentance is under-utilized and under-valued, and that's not just my Catholicism talking.
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If we are thinking, feeling, thoughtful and decent people, we not only make mistakes, we own them.
Life is a series of evolutions. We change perspectives because of experience.
When we know better, we do better.

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#Racism and #misogyny are the still-unremediated structural horrors in this nation from which all the other terriblenesses devolve, like xenophobia and homophobia/transphobia.
We are all obligated to fight against our own privilege,be it racial or gender-based.
And it's hard.
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This country fought a Civil War over racism and that war is still alive in many Americans.
We still relegate women to second-class status in every arena.
We must do better.
So these are my #FridayThoughts: commit to a better America.
Commit to fighting #racism and #misogyny.
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We could use some Truth & Reconciliation in this country.
We each have a voice on here, to speak out who we are and what we want for our country.

I want fairness.
I want it for all of us.
I want economic and class and gender and racial fairness.
I want a level playing field.
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I don't know how many people learned anything from the ugly Twitter fight on here this week, but I learned, again, that too many of my white women sisters do not stand for their black and brown sisters.
You must take sides.
And the side must always be the anti-#racist side.
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This is not a new lesson for white women (yes I know I am white, don't @ me).
Don't lecture WOC.
Don't tell them #NotAllWhiteWomen
Don't try and explain away another white woman's #racist behavior & do not excuse or accept it.
RACISM IS WRONG.
#Racism is morally reprehensible.
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I learn from WOC every day.
I learn to listen and not talk.
I learn that my privilege as a blonde-haired, blue-eyed white woman allows me privilege (despite how poor I am) that no WOC will ever have.
That is the legacy of #whitesupremacy all whites benefit from.
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You can be actively fighting #racism like I have all my life and my Civil Rights worker parents risked their lives to do and still be benefiting from your whiteness.
You cannot ever forget that.
Which is why protestations of #NotAllWhitePeople will always ring false.
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I want this to be a dialogue, not a lecture.
I want it to be a dialogue because only white people can end #racism.
Whites are the people in power.
Just like only men can end #misogyny and #rapeculture.
Because men are the people in power.

We can and must do this.
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We should have learned from 2016 that white people fear change.
69% of white men and a shattering 52% of white women voted for Trump.
They voted against the woman who talked about equality and inclusion and said structural #racism and #misogyny were wounding this nation.
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And what happened?
#Muslims were banned.
Equal pay statutes were ended with the stroke of an Executive Order pen.
Brown children were put in cages.
Black men & women were vilified by a sitting president & his chief of staff.
You voted wrong, white America.
You hurt millions.
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This is a painful place we are in.
Millions are suffering under Trump--I'm one of them--and millions more are cheering #MAGA.
It won't have a pretty ending, but it will end at the latest, January 20,2024.
So we have to work toward solidarity.
We have a duty to this republic.
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Fight #racism.
Fight #misogyny.
Fight everything that hurts other people.
Fight your own intransigence.
Say you're sorry and mean it.
Love as much and as hard and as deeply as you can.
Be kinder to more people.

Thank you so much for listening.
Here ends my TED talk.💜🌿
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