“Why do [insert poc of choice] people always segregate from everyone else?”
I’m not segregating from you. But sometimes, I want to be around people who I can relax around.
Sometimes I want to be around people who will not oppress me, be it by accident, or on purpose.
Sometimes, I want to be around people who understand, fully, 100%, what I’m going through, because they go through it too.
Sometimes, I want to be around someone who will not make me aware of my race, and how I stand out on this campus, or anywhere else in this world that I might go.
Sometimes, I want to be around people who won’t make me feel like I don’t belong.
White friends, I’m not segregating myself from you. It’s just that sometimes, I need a break. Because I know that you mean well. And I know that you’re trying your best to avoid racism in its most simple form. But your white privilege. And having to deal with you exercising it tires me out. And having to constnatly think about battles because I have to choose which ones to fight, and which things to let slide, tires me out. And it’s not pleasant. And it’s not fun.
So when I run to the arms of people who look like me, and we all sit together for lunch, or hang out, or study together, we’re not segregating from the white population. We’re taking a break from white privilege, and pretending, just for a second, that we’re not under your feet.
Word! Especially the bolded.
(Source: thinkspeakstress)