"this is to my white friends with feed fatigue" (May 2020)

"this is to my white friends with feed fatigue" (May 2020)

white allyship
social media

English

Slideshow addressed to white people who are tired of seeing posts about Black Lives Matter.

@beescolnick

2020-05-30

Instagram

Matthew Salzano

1. this is to my white friends with feed fatigue 
I'm hoping that we can speak frankly for a moment. 
2.Maybe in the last week, you've had the thought that you'd like your lnstagram feed to go back to "normal". Worse, maybe yours really hasn't changed that much. Maybe you've felt guilt or discomfort around posting "normal" things, especially since what even IS "normal" anymore?! It is true that so much has changed in a very short amount of time.
But you know what hasn't changed in, well, the entire history of this country we call Home? White Supremacy. Racism. White Violence to Black Bodies.
3. Your desire to return to "normal" is a completely valid trauma response to the loss of safety that comes from rapid change and instability. 
Safety Needs (swipe for visual representation of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs) are imperative to the very foundations of human life. But it is not the first set of needs. It comes only after securing Physiological Needs, specifically the first human Physiological Need - Air. Breathing.
4. George Floyd couldn't breathe. Eric Garner couldn't breathe. Breanna Taylor, Amaud Arbery, Tony McDade. Botham Jean, Atatiana Jefferson, Stephan Clark, Philando Castille, Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, Jonathan Farrell, Renisha McBride, Jordan Edwards, Jordan Davis, Aiyana Jones, the Charleston 9, Sean Bell, Oscar Grant, Sandra Bland, Corey Jones, John Crawford, Terrence Crutcher, Clifford Glover, Claude Reese, Randy Evans, Yvonne Smallwood, Amadou Diallo, Walter Scott, Freddie Gray, and countless others, can't breathe. 
5. I sure as hell hope you didn't skip over a single name on the list. Black folx can't even fathom securing Safety Needs because we have denied them the basic, human, Physiological Need for life. Forget Love and Belonging, Esteem, and Self-Actualization.
6. Social media is by definition a place where folx in a community gather to communicate collectively. It's our narrative, our point of view, it tells us what to care about. We HAVE to care about this.
We HAVE to care, publicly and ceaselessly, that White Supremacy strips Black folx of their basic right to Air and we HAVE to do the work to change things. The "normal" that you long to return to kills people, and if you care, you must be willing to leave it behind. Process this very real grief with other white folx, slide into my DMs, do not go to Black folx and further their emotional labor.
7. Resist the feed fatigue.
Resist going backwards.
Resist disengaging.

Choose to care.
Choose to see.
Choose to act.

Black lives matter.

8. DONATE:
National Bail Out - nationalbailout.org
Mutual Aid NYC - mutualaid.nyc
Black Visions Collective - blackvisionsmn.org
Reclaim the Block - reclaimtheblock.org
Minnesota Freedom Fund - minnesotafreedomfund.org
Official George Floyd Memorial Fund -https://www.gofundme.com/f / georgefloyd

EDUCATE:
Rachel Cargle ( The Great Unlearn) - @rachel.cargle
Layla F. Saad (Me & White Supremacy) - @laylafsaad
Brittany Packnett Cunningham - @mspackyetti
ShiShi Rose - @shishi.rose
Ericka Hart - @ihartericka

This is just to get you started and in no means a comprehensive list.

9. self-actualization 
esteem 
love & belonging 
safety needs 
physiological needs 
MASLOW'S HIERARCHY OF NEEDS 

〰️ This is to my white friends with feed fatigue. I’m hoping that we can speak frankly for a moment. 〰️ A call for sustained attention and care.
.
#blacklivesmatter #whitefatigue

Opening slide resembles grid paper with multicolored blobs, featuring chunky text with a sans-serif subtitle. Subsequent 7 slides are burnt orange text on a beige background. Final slide is a pyramid.

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