In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.
-Martin Luther King, Jr.
It's the first day of March, and Black history month has come and gone as far as the nation is concerned. However, in my household, Black history is being taught 12 months a year. One thing I notice with all the posts I make on social media is that any posts that highlight Black history as well as the present status of Blacks are by far the least supported (liked, shared, commented on, etc.). This is most likely due to the fact that more than half of my Facebook friends are White. Which is an effect of where my family lives – a predominately White neighborhood.
My heart used to break when I would realize time after time that many of the people I go to church with who sit next to me and my family in the pews, who call me their “Sister in Christ”, the people that I work with, who have acknowledged to my face that I am more than just a colleague to them, but have called me a ‘friend', the people whose children play with mine, who remark how loving and kind my boys are, these same people do not advocate for their, “Sister in Christ”, their “Friend”, or the “loving and kind” boys they enjoy being around.
Yes, it still bothers me, but I've embraced a simple truth. I've realized that I must speak up and advocate for myself, my family, my little brown boys and other little brown boys and girls just like them. It's our fight. No one else's.
The silence of my friends breaks my heart, but if I remain silent, it would crush my soul. In the words of Clint Smith,
“Validation doesn't need words to endorse it's existence.”
Speaking of silence, it's Super Tuesday. Did you vote today?
