I’m no longer sharing videos of white violence against black people

We shouldn’t have to bleed for you to see us.

How many videos have we seen of police committing violence against black people? How many videos have been circulated of white women gleefully trying to get us killed?

Too many. And it’s made little difference. So I’m not sharing anymore of them. I’m tired of seeing violence committed against us only to have white people question the story. We shouldn’t have to prove what we endure at the hands of white supremacy.

If white people don’t believe black people are being hunted in this country by now, they never will. But I’m not subjecting myself to the same comments any longer.

White people can’t even listen when black folks share a share videos about white violence without this:

Why did they resist? We didn’t see what happened before the video. They must have done something. #NotAllWhitePeople

I’m no longer playing accomplice to this blatant disregard for the truth. I refuse to entertain you while you question our experiences. You’re not listening; you don’t care; and you refuse to learn.

So I’m reclaiming all my time and focusing it on fighting for black folks with allies (the few that there are) who actually want to defeat racism and white supremacy.

I see us black people trying to educate white people, and most of the time, we come up frustrated and angry. White people refuse to acknowledge anything is wrong — or say it’s not nearly as bad as we say.

That last part stuns me.

I’ve had numerous white people listen to a story I’ve told about racism and turn around and tell me it didn’t happen the way I experienced it. I’m too sensitive or I’m the racist. Rarely do they listen, reflect and try to understand their part in our oppression.

So I’m done providing you images in living color of the violence that has been visited upon us. I’m tired of it, and I’m tired of you. I tell stories about my own experiences — mostly to let other black folks know I see them and I believe them. I will always continue to do that, and if white people want to hear those stories, fine. But if you want to question the authenticity of my experience, keep it to yourself. I’m not answering anything related to whether my experience happened or happened the way I said.

Black people don’t relish exposure to white violence. We tell our stories painfully and truthfully. We tell them to expose them to the light. We don’t tell them for white people to say we’re liars.

We tell our stories because they need to be told. So I won’t share anymore videos of racism, but I will always share my own experiences with people open to hearing them. Having said that, a new podcast is up. If you remember the article below, I talk about what happened that day.

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If you remember this Medium article, I talk about what happened in the new podcast:

The Podbean Podcast is called “The first time I was called a nigger, I was 7 years old.”

You can also listen on Stitcher and Spotify although they seem to update very late with new episodes.

Follow me on Twitter @LeciaMichelle