Within days after Floyd's murder, I had white friends and acquaintances call, text or email me to see how I was doing and to ask what they could do to try to make a difference in bringing about change and ending racism. (Perhaps you had the same experience if you are black). The sad thing here is we have been begging and screaming for change for so long and it always seems to fall on deaf ears---until now. Perhaps it took three very publicized murders (Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd) for whites to finally get the fact that police brutality against blacks is a very real thing and there is not such thing as "equal justice under the law" and white supremacists can gun down a black man while jogging on a public street and almost get away with murder.
Needless to say, emotions have been are raw on both sides. Social media platforms have been inundated with post after post and video after video of hateful rhetoric, protesting, police brutalities that aren't covered on the news and apologies from people who finally woke up and understood what their white privilege really means. Krista Vernoff, Grey's Anatomy Showrunner, told her Twitter fans that her white privilege kept her from having a criminal record:
"Between the ages of 11-22, my friends and I were chased and/or admonished by police on several occasions for drinking or doing illegal drugs on private property or in public. I have no criminal record. When I was 15, I was given 6 months probation for stealing thousand of dollars of merchandise from a Mall and was chased by police."
A number of companies, who count on the mighty black dollar, have been issuing public apologies:
Christene Barberich of Refinery29 posted this on Instagram: I’d like to start by saying that I’ve read and taken in the raw and personal accounts of Black women and women of color regarding their experiences inside our company at Refinery29. And, what's clear from these experiences, is that R29 has to change. We have to do better, and that starts with making room. And, so I will be stepping aside in my role at R29 to help diversify our leadership in editorial and ensure this brand and the people it touches can spark a new defining chapter.
Dolls Kill: We fucked up. We should have been quicker + louder and this is what we r doing about it.
We all remember the apology Drew Brees was forced to make after he said he would never respect anyone who didn't stand for the flag or the national anthem and NFL Commissioner Roger Goddell went on ESPN and apologized for not listening to the players earlier on the subject of racism and Colin Kaepernick's peaceful protest back in 2016 that got him black balled by the league.
Here's my advice: Just stop apologizing white america and start taking action. As Mahatma Ghandi so eloquently put it: Be the change you want to see in the world.
One more thing: Why in the hell did it take Quaker Oats 131 years to have a wake-up call that the the "Aunt Jemima" brand was purely RACIST?
