Let me start with a thank you.
Thank you to those of you who have never asked me about your safety at George Floyd Square.
I am so grateful for your awareness and insight.
I appreciate that you have asked me how I have been coping with my business inside the epicenter of racial justice. Thank you for understanding that white supremacy is an old, living tool that is worthy of destruction. I see you good men and babes and applaud your vulnerability and ease of unlearning toxic behaviors related to your whiteness and masculinity.
To those who didn't do that...
I have some things to get my off my chest.
Here is the one time I am going to answer the famous question that I received about 300 times over the last year and never want to hear again...
Is George Floyd Square a safe place for me to be?
Really? Are you REALLY asking that question?
YES. GFS is safe.
Why wouldn't it be? It is a designated sacred space to mourne and grieve, always has been.
I am drowining in white fragility with so many of you. Now that the verdict has been reached, I am not playing nice anymore. So here goes nothing...
If you're a white cis gendered man, you are always safe in this country. You do not have violence and micro aggressions around every corner of your community like your BIPOC and other marginalized neighbors do. This country has always been a safe space for you. Your fear is rooted in delusional perceptions of white supremacy.
Aside from covid, my business was drastically affected by white supremacy violence. It is appaling how many of you have canceled or rescheduled appointments with me based on your discomfort.
You are not making anything better by asking about your safety when white men are usually the most dangerous person in any room.
Yup, I said it. Cis het white men are the most dangerous person in the room.
Serving it with a major FuCk YoU and a smile 🥰
All white people perpetuate systems of violence when they do not confront their own whiteness. I cannot believe you have confronted your whiteness when you ask about your safety at GFS. This is a sign that you have a lot of work to do.
I have seen white men take accountability for their whiteness. I know it is possible. One of the first steps in addressing internalized white supremacy is acknowledging it exists and having enough gusto to admit you have been complacent in upholding the violence. It is about having enough humility to be wrong and uncomfortable.
If this makes you never want to see me again, good. Keep your imperialism and intellectualism far away from me until you figure out how to dismantle the oppressive systems that live inside you.
I am no longer entertaining anyone's inner workings of white supremacy with passive niceness. I refuse to hold space for ignorance anymore.
I want men who understand that they have been conditioned to this violence and who want to destroy it within themselves through authentic unpacking and vulnerability to RUN MY WAY.
Please, for the love of Lilith, if you are a socialized man who understands he is both a survivor and perpetuater of oppression, who works to dismantle systems of oppression PLEASE book an appointment. I am thrilled to work with you and would be honored to hold space for you.
But if you are pissed reading this note, then go ahead and kindly fuck off with your colonized stained mind and never contact me again.
In closing, this is a plea for you to step it up. Our community needs it. Our BIPOC neighbors, friends, and family members deserve better from us, deserve more from us. We owe them. In our discomfort, our unpacking, our confronting ourselves and the way we perpetuate violence without even knowing it, we owe it to them.
Blessed,
Elle