Dear melanin-deficient folks who consider yourselves allies and accomplices but who….

still. don’t. get. it.

Hard truth.

It’s looking like no one earthly is coming to save Black people.

You’ve watched a law passed “to curb hate crimes against Asian Americans”….

You’ve heard about Ukranians being assured of an additional “help and rescue” package of $40 billion…. being touted partly as HUMANITARIAN aid…..

The hypocrisy is blatant and insulting.

In the midst of all of that…..

Black folks are still trying to convince folks that our lives matter and to not kill us.

A very low and embarrassingly shameful bar…..and to not even clear it.

The handwriting has long been on the wall.

The J6 “tourists” and 2nd Amendment enhancements such as “permitless carry” being passed in states like Texas—known for its “special brand” of whiteness preservation —are also two of your biggest and most recent “clues.”

If you don’t understand the connection between J6, the 2nd amendment, and unchecked anti-Black racism, don’t even think about calling yourself a real ally or accomplice.

You’re not ready yet.

Lean In…and Hear This

Meaningful change is unlikely to happen at the national or state levels without a “critical mass of grassroots efforts” happening all over the country.

Real allies and accomplices work inside of their

company

social media platforms

neighborhood

family

 i.e., ALL regularly-inhabited day-to-day spaces

Real allies and accomplices are “inside agents” at their company and work to disrupt and interrupt racist and bigoted speech and behavior while actively promoting and advocating for equity and inclusion in policies and practices.

Are you for real doing this?

Real allies and accomplices are “anti-status-quo influencers” on social media and are proactive about advancing real ally and accomplice work. They operate from a deep sense of purpose and are not seeking “recognition cookies.” They take on calling out or calling in nonsense and hate when they witness it. They model a zero-policy for racism and bigotry at all times—whether they have a following of 10 or 10,000. They tag in key melanin-deficient folks on important content and avoid performative tagging of Black people who “already got the memo.”

Are you for real doing this?

Real allies and accomplices are the “neighborhood watch” in their neighborhood and look out for opportunities to both educate on and model community and inclusivity.

Are you for real doing this?

Real allies and accomplices are the “legacy breaker” within their family. They interrupt the racism and bigotry of Grandpa Gus, Aunt Becky, and other family members. They don’t make lame and cowardly excuses for them. They are raising their children to not grow up and kill ours.

Are you for real doing this?

Three Words….UNDERSTAND THE COST

Your comfort and feelings are…

inconsequential

irrelevant

and

contribute to further harm

Racial equity

Racial equality

Racial justice

are NOT hobbies

are NOT hashtags

are NOT February-only “events”

are NOT social media banners

You can “ask” these real allies and accomplices—

John Brown

Michael Schwerner

Andrew Goodman

Viola Liuzzo

Jonathan Daniels

William Lewis Moore

Jonathan Myrick Daniels

Each of them was a target of unchecked anti-Black racism and genocidal hate which “sacrificed” melanin-deficient folks as collateral damage.

The stakes are incredibly high.

And we Black folks know exactly what’s at stake…..and, again, it’s NOT your feelings.

When I reference whiteness as a beast system, I am not exaggerating.

IYKYK.

Devoted “disciples” have already shown us what horrors and atrocities, historical and present-day, they are willing to commit—in the name of “tradition” and “patriotism”—in (law and) order to maintain the system of whiteness.

We have mourned and continue to mourn all of our murdered kinfolks including these leaders, among many, who strove tirelessly to death trying to secure freedom, equality, equity, justice…..

Harry and Hariette Moore

Reverend George Lee

Lamar Smith

Medgar Evers

James Chaney

Fred Hampton

Huey P. Newton

Malcolm X

Martin Luther King, Jr.

We’re busy “playing” defense and offense against this system that kills….literally.

We don’t need the extra burden of coddling you, holding your hand, or soothing your bruised ego when you mess up.

“Ain’t nobody got time fa’dat.” [not a typo]

When you mess up…

 own it…..quickly

learn from it…..quickly

and

do better next time

Privately and quickly “lick your own wounds,” and get back to the work of difference-making.

Unchecked white genocidal hate (commonly known as “white supremacy”)

is NOT going to eradicate itself

We’re rapidly losing daylight.

Where are all the real allies and accomplices to join the fight to exterminate it?

Sincerely,

Black folks and other melanin-enriched folks at risk of being exterminated

***************

A Poem by Phelelani Makhanya

“Dear White People”

We are not begging you to like us.

We are not even begging for the flake of love and empathy you give to cats and dogs and rhinos and parrots.

We are not even begging for the crumb of care you give to rose bushes and lawn.

We didn’t force our way into this planet.

By the time we opened our eyes we were already here.

We don’t know why and how.

It was not our decision that this planet will be cohabited.

We didn’t know that melanin was a sin.

Even if we knew, what choice did we have?

We are not even begging you to extinguish the hate you have for us.

Water it, groom it, inflate it to your hearts’ content.

Defend it, justify it, wave it like superiority entitlement flag,

if that gives you a comfortable cushion.

But can you allow us in this pale blue dot of the milky-way galaxy, a space and moments to live with dignity, like every plant and creature and micro-organism that unknowingly finds itself in this speck of rock and water.

Everyday, we are going through a lot.

Can you please give us a break…

Can you please pretend like we don’t exist; you don’t see us.

Because it is our sight that sends you to nausea overdrive.

Can you pretend like the last night’s full moon didn’t shine for black people too.

For this… we are begging you.

From a fed up human being who was involuntarily catapulted from star dust.

Phelelani Makhanya is a published award-winning writer/poet.