Why We’re Upset

“I just don’t see how it’s racist”

You tell a person of color without any basis

As if you’ve lived through racism first hand

From people of authority or just people who demand,

You act a certain way in order to feel accepted

But even when we do you say it wouldn’t have affected

Anything either way cause “we don’t see color, we’re all the same race”.

You’ll say minorities don’t deserve to have their own space.

When you can’t relate with something, you feel threatened

You feel the need to raise your voice, you feel the need to lessen

Your empathy towards us because for the first time in your lives

You feel so excluded, abandoned; you’d rather believe we spread lies

When we talk about our own experiences and our own stories.

You don’t have to go through what we go through, so why worry?

“I don’t face discrimination because of the color of my skin,

I am not stereotyped due to my background, nor have I ever been.

People don’t feel the need to brace themselves or glare at me

For solely minding my own business and carrying on peacefully

So why should I care about people that do experience discrimination.

It makes me upset when I’m not included in the conversation,

It makes me upset that my entire life I have lived with advantages over others,

It makes me admit that I have privilege over people, and that’s what bothers

Me more, see I do face oppression, I’m not invited in all spaces.

That’s how it works, right? I’m not invited in all spaces.

I’ve had a hard life growing up, maybe I didn’t have both my parents around,

Maybe I’ve had to work multiple jobs, maybe I’ve switched towns

And even schools, maybe I was even bullied in school for a while.

You don’t know a thing about my life, my obstacles, my trial.”

Certain people will use these arguments

Just to defend themselves for being part of the majority

But little do they know that the only thing they’re defending is white fragility.

This is when white people feel uncomfortable in conversations about race

Because things that don’t sit well with others are being discussed

But nothing that whites face.

Instead of giving their platforms to people that have dealt with hate first hand,

They choose to get offended and neglect people, and neglect to stand

By those that have been oppressed.

And they wonder why we’re upset.

By Sarah Faysal