As I am writing this, Dallas is in the throes of a Black Lives Matter protest that turned fatal when three cops were gunned down. This protest is in response to two police shootings in Minnesota and Louisiana that took the lives of two innocent black men.
I am angry. I am angry at the policemen who took advantage of their authority to mercilessly kill two men whose only crime was being black. I am angry at the protesters who think the best way to solve a problem is to kill those killing them. I am angry at the posts on Facebook trying to downplay the Black Lives Matter movement by boasting the idiotic All Lives Matter drivel. I am angry and I want to talk about it.
But I can't. And I definitely shouldn't.
I am a 20-year-old, cisgendered, straight, white female. I, by all intents and purposes, am incredibly privileged. The only thing working against me, really, is that I have a vagina and thus am only a sexual object. But that's another article for another day.
I don't really have a stake in this argument. I am not black. I have never faced any sort of animosity from those behind the badge based on my race. In fact, my race and gender has helped me get out of trouble with the law on several occasions (I like to speed, OK). I am not directly affected by any of the police brutality happenings across the country.
Which is why I am choosing to stay silent.
I am all for having opinions. I am a proud liberal, a member of the Young Democrats of Arkansas, and my Facebook profile is full of Bernie Sanders propaganda. I am an opinionated person and I make sure everyone knows that. But this is not my place. And it isn't yours either.
Most of the tweets and statuses and tumblr posts I have seen have been authored by people just like me: middle-class, straight, white, and privileged. But I say that this is not our time to talk; it is our time to listen.
Listen to the families of the black men who are mourning their loss. Listen to the black police officers that must see their brothers in blue disgrace the badge. Listen to the families of the cops slain in protest.
It's time to just shut up. Put aside your own narcissism and inflated sense of self-importance. Log out of Twitter and put down your phone. Offer your love and support. And just take a minute to listen.
