I am so tired of white kids asking me to do their homework for them.
On Friday, I had three separate white people ask me “What do we do? How do we fix it?”
And to be honest, that in itself is just mildly infuriating. In the past, my first instinct would always be to try to educate. Anyone who knows me knows that if an opportunity to learn even hints at its existence, I’m there, PowerPoint presentation in hand, ready to go.
I don’t want to do that anymore. It’s not my job. And I am done teaching you how not to be mean to me.
Stop asking people who look like me how to fix the damage that was done by people who look like you.
I’m not the one who’s racist. I didn’t set up this system. If I knew how it worked, I would have just fixed it myself. But it’s white people who built this, so now it’s going to have to be white people who break it down.
But since you already asked… How do you fix it? First off, recognize that the system isn’t broken to begin with. According to the original design, it’s actually running flawlessly.
The system is doing exactly what it was built to do, and it's doing it with amazing speed and deadly precision.
Second, don’t be lazy. Asking this question, demanding to be taught is, in itself, putting the work that you need to do off onto someone else. Someone who, quite honestly, is too tired and too broken to continue doing your work on top of all of their own. Someone who has been pulling your weight for far too long and just can’t do it anymore.
By asking me how to fix it, you’ve shown that you haven’t been listening in class. If you don’t know the answers by now, you’re a bad student. Black people have been telling you how to “fix it” for about 400 years. The answers have been given to you for four. hundred. years. And you just wrote it off as us being whiny, or combative, or unable to move on from the past. You spent the entire semester turning a blind eye and now you’re trying to ask *me* what’s the answer to question 2? This is a test. And you’re failing it. And I would be well within right to just let you fail.
That said, even though you’re the one who is going to fail, I know that your failing means that I will be the one to die. Which, frankly, puts me in a really tough spot.
So if you really want to have a chance, I’ll give you the textbook that’s been here the entire semester. Am I bummed you haven’t even bothered to ever open it? EXTREMELY. But I also really need you to pass this test. Because my entire existence depends on you passing this test.
I’m giving this to you because I am a nice person. But this is your last chance. And you better pass. Because I won’t be helping you with the homework anymore.
Now start reading. Because the exam started 20 minutes ago and you are so incredibly far behind.