Thread by @AdrianCJax

1. I can always appreciate a genuine inquiry regarding #NotAllWhitePeople & #NotAllMen; join me as I take a more creative route to explain.

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2. Imaging 13 kids (weird number, I know, but it'll make sense soon enough): 10 of them wear white t-shirts; 3 of them, brown tees.

3. Everyday, the "white tee" kids get to leave class early to attend lunch ahead of everyone else; the "brown tee" kids follow afterwards.

4. Unfortunately, like clockwork, the 3 brown tee kids are bullied by 6 of the 10 white tee kids waiting for them & steal their lunch money.

5. So, naturally, the brown tee kids are upset and alert the teacher: "Hey, those white tee kids keep stealing our lunch money every day!”

6. Now, the 4 other white tee kids who aren't bullies -- in fact, they dislike the 6 white tee bullies -- are upset at what they hear…BUT…

7. they target their frustration not towards the bullies…but at the brown tee kids: "Hey, hey, hey…Not ALL white tee kids stole your money!"

8. And the pattern continues: 6 white tees bullied 3 browns…the brown tees address their frustration…the 4 white tees snap at brown tees.

9. Now, if one had an ounce of empathy, you would ask yourself, "Wait…if 4 of the white tee kids hate bullying, why snap at the victims?…"

10. "…Obviously, the 6 bullies are gonna continue stealing the brown tee kids' lunch money until someone intervenes and helps."

11. Now, if you haven't reached this thought, well…fuck you very much, you selfish, apathetic, inconsiderate scumbucket of a species…

12. …but if you have, CONGRATULATIONS! You've now grasp the underlying frustration behind the phrases #NotAllWhitePeople & #NotAllMen.

13. Essentially, by repeating these infuriating themes, you're attempting to devoid yourself of any & all responsibility to fix the matter.

14. The 3 brown tee kids ALREADY know that NOT ALL 10 white tees stole their money, but guess what…it was STILL white tees & ENOUGH of them!

15. And not just enough of them…a MAJORITY of them! 6 out of 10!

16. So now, you're thinking: "Well, what possibly could those other 4 white tee kids do to resolve the issue? There's only 4 of them!"

17. Well…let's play that out, shall we?

18. So one day, the 4 white tee kids had a meeting: "Say, since we don't like bullying so much, why don't we team up with the 3 brown tees?"

19. So they went to the 3 brown tees to ask how they can help; all 3 of them said, "Well, 6 of them always bullies us on our way to lunch."

20. So the next day, the 6 white tee bullies left early for lunch, as usual, but something was different today…

21. Today, 4 of white tees stayed behind and walked with the 3 brown tees to lunch, & when the 6 bullies saw the 7 ALLIES, they backed off!

22. And the Allied 7 went even further: they confronted the 6 bullies TOGETHER to find out why they engaged in bullying in the first place.

23. Turns out, the bullies didn't have enough to eat & thought stealing from others was the only way to go, b/c they were taught that lie.

24. To which the Allied 7 had a simple solution: If they had enough to spare, share what they had with the others, as long as EVERYONE ate!

25. But that outcome would have never happened if the 4 white tee kids never bothered to SHUT UP, LISTEN, & ALIGN with the marginalized!

26. So, now that you know the harms of empty statements like #NotAllWhitePeople & #NotAllMen, how can this be applied in the real world?

27. Well, the 3 step process was previously mentioned:
A. Shut Up
B. Listen
C. Align

28. A. SHUT UP: Eliminate #NotAll(Anything) from your lexicon. You now know those are empty statements with no positive impact for change.

29. Also, refrain from any & all forms of 'splaining (man-splaining, white-splaining, etc.); that is just as terrible, if not worse.

30. B. LISTEN: Marginalized groups have real issues that affect them that you know very little or nothing about.

31. PoC (esp. Blacks) deal w/ systematic & institutional racism. Women deal w/ systematic & institutional misogyny & prevalent rape culture.

32. If you are white and/or male, you know absolutely nothing about these issues -- lemme repeat…👏🏾AB👏🏾SO👏🏾LUTE👏🏾LY 👏🏾NO👏🏾THING…

33. So to best learn: Listen. Engage. Ask GENUINE questions (not passive aggressive ones). And most importantly, Accept & Adopt*.

34. *there will be some who try to feed you bullshit…that's why we're here, to help you filter out the facts from the full-o-shit.

35. C. ALIGN: This. Is. Paramount. You can hold your tongue all you want. You can listen til the cows come home…they're nothing w/o action!

36. You saw how the 4 white tee kids in the Allied 7 addressed the 6 bullies? That's what WE need from YOU…

37. Got racist relatives, friends, or co-workers? Don't let them off the hook! Got a boyfriend who's low-key sexist? Call his ass out!

38. 'Cause here's a little secret: YOU (white and/or male person) have FAR MORE INFLUENCE over your peers than we do!

39. They couldn't care less about our thoughts, situations, or lives, for that matter. They do, however, care about what YOU think of them.

40. So use that power & influence to steer them from their bigoted ways.
You. Have. To. Step. Up. To. Achieve. Significant. Change.

41. So, now that you're fully enlightened about the pitfalls of #NotAll'ing, the onus is upon you to implement this knowledge moving forward

42. Be a better ally. Become a Champion for others. Don't desire praise or recognition, but strive for progress & purpose.

We. Got. This.✊🏾

Enjoy the Storified version of my thread: #NotAllTShirts
Learn. Share. Grow.
storify.com/AdrianCJax/not…

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