A Shake In The Matter.

Have you ever had the thought, ‘If I were white, how different my experience would be. How much more opportunity I would’ve had. How much less stress and anxiety I might experience. How much more attention and validation I might’ve received. How much more money I might have made. How much more acceptance I might’ve felt. How much more ease with which I might’ve moved through the world without fear?’ Imagine that, an existence not governed by fear. And how not once would I have had to think about any of it. Because it would’ve just been there. Been a part of the truth. The air. There would be no space to move through because of the intrinsic ownership granted in the space in which I was, simply because I am. No guessing. No adjusting. Just fully taking up whole space wherever I went. So maybe this idea of white fragility, white questioning, white discomfort, white supremacy is actually good for all of us to experience and see. To have the switch flipped. For everyone to get even just a glimpse, a moment, a guess, of what it might feel like for Black people and POC folx to hold whole spaces, to not have to guess, not adjust, not perform, not ask, not fear; to breathe freely and fully every damn day. And for white people and those adjacent, those who feel safe in their assimilation to feel the safety skin break a little bit. A shake in the matter, an ounce of pain. 9 minutes of suffocation. 400 years of oppression. For no reason other than the color and lightness of their skin. For the highlighter to be turned on it’s head. To walk into a room and have to assess. To guess. To negotiate. And wonder why the whole “room” is suddenly looking at you, simply because the color of your skin?