Once again on Facebook, I paused for quite a while debating whether or not I should wade into a  discussion. The initial post was about rectifying a racial wrong. Great, got it. But the tone of the post (underlined by abbreviated swears) was shaming: Like “Hey, you stupid white people, wake the fuck up.”

Maybe some people respond well to shaming. I don’t. I am coated with four hundred years of racism. I have been dipped in it. I am ashamed of how stupid and blind I am even as I pull back the blinkers of my white privilege.

Maybe it is freaking tiresome to be the person of color ALWAYS having to bring up the issue and make the dumb white people aware. I get it. But we have four hundred years of racism and genocide in this country to undo. Let’s do it together. Let’s believe we are all redeemable. Let’s not shame each other.

It doesn’t help. It really doesn’t help.