A Reckoning: An Appeal to White America

As a child, we are sometimes told how to act, feel and to be. It is with the hope to protect us, shield us and possibly teach us how to go into the world and live.

But sometimes, for some, no matter how much you teach your children, you can never prepare for the things that we will face.

Our skin, our noses, our voices, our hair, our bodies are treated with disgust and fear — abused due to something that we cannot change. It is who we are.

And over the years, we have learned to be resilient when children are supposed to be carefree. We have learned to push through and stand on our own feet when every benefit and advantage is continuously stripped from our hands.

We live in a system not made to help us, but harm us. And for those of us who are able to break through the noise, and become resilient, it isn’t for ourselves — it is for the people who can not speak for themselves. For the voices that we have lost or simply don’t have the opportunity to be heard.

We are not looking for sympathy, we are not looking for your outrage or anger — we are looking for your belief that change can happen and that you will not sit here and simply look at the images of the abuse. Stop and ask yourself —

How Can I help?

Even in the midst of an epidemic, we still are being killed because of the color of our skin, brutally treated as if we were monsters and our body is not full of life, love and connected to families that will miss us, cry for us.

Although we are often connected by collective pain, there is an ease to who we are despite efforts to keep us divided.

The things we are asking are not big or complicated.

They are simple.

And when things are simple to do, we must do them.

Treat us like human beings. Treat us like the beautiful souls that are within us. And when you don’t see what we see in ourselves, treat us like you would treat yourself.

When the Austin Justice Coalition was founded, there were far too many protests and not enough action. Five years later, we are still here, doing the work — not for fame or glory, because our heritage demands it of us.

What is your heritage White America?

How are you going to work to break the generational curses that plague black and brown bodies? When are you going to teach your children to love others and not judge someone based on the color of their skin, or stop teaching fear and judging everyone that doesn’t look like you.

When, I ask.

We need our white allies to champion their families and friends who breathe the bigotry daily that harm us.

This is a simple call to action. The news is not new, it calls us to be even more pointed in our efforts.

Join us. We are here. We need every single one of you to do something.

It’s simple.

Join us on June 10th — A Reckoning — An Appeal with White America

Chas Moore