So you posted a black square
Now what?
This week, as Black Lives Matter protests continued in the streets around the nation, the movement also manifested itself in different ways on social media. There were two things that caught my attention that I really wanted to talk about in this week’s newsletter.
Black squares and performative allyship
I woke up Tuesday to see tons and tons of people and companies posting black squares on Instagram, promising to be silent for a day while they learned and listened from black people. (Leaving aside the irony in the fact that thousands of white people promised to “mute themselves” by actually creating a ton of noise in our Instagram feeds.) Instead of being “silent,” it would have been preferable to amplify black voices or take actual concrete action to fight racism.
It’s also telling that many have largely been silent on the issue of racism until they posted a black square on Instagram this week. Many people I know recoil at the phrase “white privilege,” but the fact that people had the option to choose not to care about racism is literally the definition. It’s a privilege to choose not to pay attention.
While I am glad to see so many people paying attention to issues of structural racism and inequality now, I thought a lot this week about how the black squares felt performative — showing your support on social media is nice, but that shouldn’t be confused with real action. Now that you posted that square, what did you learn and what are you going to do about it?
Committing to being anti-racist isn’t just a one day thing. It’s forever. That might take the form of protesting or donating to causes; it should also take the form of smaller but meaningful actions, like amplifying black and PoC voices in your workplace or striving to improve the diversity of your company. And racism is not just perpetuated through police brutality, but in everyday actions and behaviors. So taking action means committing to changing those everyday behaviors.
It means you stop telling your PoC friends they’re “too sensitive” or “too PC” or “it’s not about race” when they tell you something is racist, but instead listening to them. (Remember when you posted that black square and you promised to listen?)
It means looking around at your world; if all your friends, neighbors, and colleagues are largely white, do the work to diversify your personal and professional networks.
It means listening to the voices of black and brown people in your workplace, amplifying their ideas, backing them up when someone shoots them down.
It means mentoring, hiring, and sponsoring more people of color, and having diversity at all levels of your organization. As Juana Summers pointed out this week, it’s not enough to just hire more diverse people — you have to actually listen to them, too.
And then there were the brands…
So then the brands started getting in on the #BlackOutTuesday wave too, with many companies posting black squares or issuing statements announcing their support for Black Lives Matter.
But a lot of these actions felt hollow, and again, performative: what about how they were treating their own black and brown employees right at home? Former employees at companies like Facebook, Refinery29, Ban.do, the Guggenheim, and many others took their black-square posting employers to task on social media and shared their stories of experiencing racism in those same workplaces: getting paid less than white colleagues, getting sidelined for promotions, having their ideas dismissed, being told they were too outspoken or “difficult.” The list goes on. Current employees at the New York Times staged a very public rebellion. Philly Inquirer employees staged a walkout that led to a top editor resigning.
I was really heartened to see so many black and brown people speaking out and sharing the stories that they had long kept quiet about for fear of repercussions or career blowback. Finally, in this moment, they felt able to speak up and call out companies that were now trying to engage in performative allyship. And I hope the people that run these companies, who made a show of their solidarity this week, will take some time to look inwards at their companies and commit to making change in their organizations.
What I’m reading
Some white people are pouring out their hearts — and sending money — to their black acquaintances, Washington Post.
Why people loot, The Atlantic.
American Plague, Rolling Stone.
What is an anti-racism reading list for?, Vulture.
You need a schedule, The Cut.
Cooking
This week I made slow cooker honey chipotle tacos and used the extra chicken to make burrito bowls the next night. I also made this creamy miso pasta. And then I ordered takeout the rest of the week, because it was A WEEK.
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