1. Instead of Kneeling during the national anthem, volunteer or donate to areas of disproportionate police violence, low income, poor education, and segregation.

Volunteer at an inner city school. Work at a camp that helps keep inner city children out of gangs. Join one of these police departments and be the model cop. Encourage your friends and family and children not to fear the inner cities but to see these areas of segregation and struggle as places to step in and help.

2. Instead of preaching white privilege, ask people about their whole stories.

Yes, it is a fact that minorities, particularly people of color, tend to have more odds stacked against them as they grow up. It is also true that these people do not see the same representation in our history textbooks, TV Shows, or political figures. However, simply being white doesn’t automatically mean an individual has had it easier. There are white people who came from the inner city, broken homes, no money, no opportunities to go to college, etc., just as there are black people who were raised in suburbia with all of their needs met and two loving parents. Stop automatically funneling people into a category of privilege you unfairly think they deserve and take the time to learn about the world they came from and appreciate their success based on their hustle.

3. Instead of calling BS on white privilege, recognize where you may actually be privileged.

If you see someone of color experiencing discrimination where you didn’t, step in and speak up! If you look around the room and see that no one there is of color, acknowledge the opportunity you have that they may not. Take the opportunity to speak to people who are different from you. Donate to the low-income areas they live in, help build up their public schools instead of pulling your kids out and forcing the low income, often people of color to be further segregated. If you can be helping someone, you should be. End. of. Discussion.

4. Instead of Preaching to Raise Minimum Wage, preach urban renewal or job training.

Stop simplifying the problem. It is PROVEN that increasing minimum wage leaves more people unemployed, decreases the value of the dollar, causes everything else to be more expensive and perpetuates the cycle of poverty for minimum wage workers who will get knocked right back down once they finally think they are climbing back up. I’ll say it again. This is PROVEN. There is no arguing this. It’s a fact. Instead, help people out of their minimum wage prison. Advocate for urban renewal where people in the cities are hired to train, rebuild, and then take pride in their home town. Then they leave the urban renewal with a learned and marketable skill in construction. Advocate for government-funded job training instead of taking money from business owners to pay barely-skilled laborers who cannot use their minimum wage experience to get a better job. Stop simplifying the problem.

5. Instead of Claiming “Black on Black” Crime, claim gentrification and segregation.

Wealthy people are scared of the city. It’s dirty and the schools are bad. There are gangs and it’s “sketchy.” So they move. They take their money out of those districts and into the incredibly wealthy suburbs. This leaves those in the city, generally people of color, with no alternative but to stay in their low-income community and watch the funding that kept their public systems stable start to drain. Then, when people rebuild the city, they hire already trained laborers instead of employing the low-income city residents. Then they fight, sell drugs to make a living, steal to feed their families, let their homes deteriorate because they can’t afford to fix them, the list goes on. Black people do not have higher rates of crimes because of their skin color. It’s because of the unfair circumstances wealthy people have pushed them into. So instead of running away from the problems, invest in the solutions. We need to take some of the responsibility.

6. Instead of Screaming about Trump’s environmental neglect, make changes in your own life.

Stop using paper plates. Invest in glass Tupperware and to-go bottles. Unplug and switch off your technology when you leave. Protest the “environmental advocates” who own multiple cars and jets and mansions and way overstep their carbon footprint. Trump’s signature on a piece of paper will never have the same impact as each of us using public transportation, eliminating our waste, and making the change on a day to day basis. Political change will follow the climate of our purchases, energy usage, and gas usage. We have to set the precedent in order for politicians to act in pursuit of our vote.

7. Instead of Degrading men for the way they treat women, empower men to be better to women.

Instead of getting mad at a fellow college student who silently watched you get cat-called, approach him and ask him why he didn’t say anything. Suggest if he witnesses this happen again that he offers to walk with the victim. Instead of being angry about a dress code, explain logically that just like our bodies may distract the boys, Chubbie shorts, cut off tank tops, baseball pants, and compression shorts distract the girls. Open the eyes of the men in your life and make them realize where they may be disrespectful. Don’t walk around with a chip on your shoulder, walk around with advice to offer. Own your femininity if that’s you. Don’t degrade other women for their choices. And instead of demanding respect, command respect. Show them you deserve it.

8. Instead of getting in a Facebook argument, have civilized conversations with real people in real life.

In mixed company, I will often drop a very controversial, often offensive statement in hopes that someone will look up and call me out. In hopes of a conversation. In hopes of triggering someone enough to speak their mind. Yet everyone sits in silence, burying themselves in their phones. In the company of friends, strangers or acquaintances. Seek out conversations. Share opinions and be open to changing your mind. Think beyond the simple solutions and outside of your upbringing. Be willing to see the other side clearly. Share your educated opinion with others and don’t take your voice, your education, or your experiences for granted.

9. Instead of being irrationally intolerant of “Republicans” or “Christians” or anyone with conservative ideals, be open to hearing new, well thought out opinions.

Republican does not mean bigot or homophobic. Christian does not mean racist or judgmental. Conservative does not mean bad person. These are real people with different opinions on politics, religion, and values. If someone wants to wait until marriage to have sex, fine. If someone doesn’t want to defend pro-choice and abortion rights, fine. If someone doesn’t want college to be free or to sacrifice even more income to taxes, fine. Before you label these people by the negative stereotypes, remember you accuse them of doing the same thing to you. When you call someone a bigot strictly based on political ideology, it is the equivalent of blaming crime on strictly skin color. Hear out everyone you talk to. Hear their stories. Get to know them.

10. Instead of getting a tattoo of “Be the change you wish to see in the world,” ACTUALLY be the change you wish to see in the world!

Run for student government and change your school’s injustice, get a job in the police department, study something that allows you to work in a field of social progress, learn how to respectfully argue and effective ways to present issues of injustice, work in ministry if that’s where your passion is, and don’t degrade the goals and passions of other people even if they think differently or have a different, “easier” major. Actually be the change! You have that power in America. Don’t be a burden with a loudspeaker, be an ally with an education and a goal.