We, THE WHITE PEOPLE, OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA....

Tye Blue

August 4 

We, THE WHITE PEOPLE, OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, have a white people problem.
If you’re already triggered, I implore you to push through and keep reading; the mediocre memes and lackluster kitty videos will still be there later. I spent a good deal of time thinking about and crafting this letter to you, and then just as much time debating whether I’d post it…so I would appreciate you finishing it with an open heart and mind. Also, I am about to go shopping at a big mall, and for all we know, I could very easily be gunned down and never have the opportunity to speak to you again, so know my heart:

We, The White People, want the right to bear arms, but we can’t seem to raise intelligent, caring, loving white men who know how and when to use them.

We, The White People, are instead raising unstable, home-grown, white supremacist terrorists, enabling them to enact mass murders, and we are doing nothing about it.

We, The White People, with the privilege that allows us to carelessly wear a black hoodie down the street, need to individually work to put an end to this, because clearly the powers that be do not care.

(If you’re confused by the black hoodie reference, that should be your first red flag that you are a bit disconnected from this conversation, and it’s ok – only you know – and you can now go privately google it and catch up.)

Nowhere else in the world are there more guns than people – except in the USA.
Nowhere else in the world do this many innocent people die like this by gunshots from fellow citizens.
Don’t become numb to it.
Take that urge to turn off the news and repurpose that energy into action.

We MUST recognize that we have a white supremacy problem – that the mere visibility of a black President revitalized a low-grade national racism that many of us thought surely Obama’s presence defied. Well: we were wrong; we were blinded by the Hope and Wonder of 44, while all the while you know you had that one friend refer to Obama as the N-word around the campfire when you went home to visit, and we did nothing about it. We must all acknowledge this behavior and do better.

We MUST recognize that when people hear our current President refer to people with brown skin as “rapists and murderers” from “shithole countries” who should “go back to where they came from” that this BEACON of information is sending out a direct message (albeit incredibly low-frequency ) TO THE ENTIRE WORLD that these racist feelings and tones are not only OK but in fact SUPPORTED by the highest office in the land. This is a massive psychological problem. And this is why I implore you to vote for ANYONE else but him next year. The thing is – to my dear, fellow White People - you’re probably not even realizing it because you are actually NOT racist and you’re operating on a higher frequency – so it’s not resonating with you - but he’s DOING IT and clearly working, just like it did for Hitler. Consider that it’s happening, but it’s just not impacting you personally. Consider.

We MUST recognize that we have a mental health problem among men that is stoked by isolationism, secretive online activity, violent video games, etc. We must get our young people OFF of their gaming devices, laptops, phones, and engage and EDUCATE them on humane topics. I don’t care if it’s your child, nephew, cousin, uncle, Godson – it doesn’t matter. I also don’t care if it feels like WORK because it IS. You as a family member have a responsibility to act on these warning signs, which you KNOW you’ve seen. We must make sure we are raising our young men and women to understand that we are ALL immigrants. That diversity is beautiful and strong. It’s as simple as genetics and history: shallow gene pools do not fare so well!

We MUST use our votes for elected officials in a more effective way. The majority of our country wants UNIVERSAL BACKGROUND CHECKS AND MILITARY ASSAULT RIFLES REMOVED FROM SOCIETY but it doesn’t happen because we, The White People, keep voting for people who look like us because they feel safe, yet these ‘safe’ folks won’t take these necessary safety steps. The NRA is absolutely at play here and at least to a degree controlling many of these policy-makers with massive contributions to their political campaigns. I encourage everyone to dig deeper into this data when you’re considering who to vote for.

We MUST work harder to educate our children on the beauty of culture. If you find your kids, nephews, cousins, whatever – are constantly surrounded by other white kids only – don’t you think that’s weird? Cause that’s not what America looks like. If you are an adult and all of your friends and loved ones are all white: don’t you think that’s weird? Cause that’s not what America looks like. I invite you to really look around and figure out how and why you are in such a homogenous environment, because I promise you on some level it is not by accident. Get out of your bubble. Take a trip. Go to the islands. Go to NYC. Go to LA. Go to Mexico. Do SOMETHING to learn and experience and appreciate the beauty of cultural diversity. Through these experiences we learn to love, respect, and protect.

We, The White People: must be honest with ourselves.
Sit with the facts; acknowledge we are not necessarily at fault individually but by-and-large we are the only group with the ability to fix this national crisis.
Get out of your feelings of fear and righteousness and go into action to protect your children and loved ones from being in the next round of mass shooting victims.