Don’t Need Your Guilt

                                                          By: A.X. Bueno

This shouldn’t be something I feel I have to exclaim 

Your overbearing guilt isn’t needed and neither is your self flagellation or copious shame

I get that it’s a lot 

Carrying the knowledge of the atrocities of the past

As well as the terribleness of the racist and prejudiced institutions of right now

But beating yourself up to prove what a good ally you are isn’t the way how  

All that does is make yourself feel better while taking attention away from the actual issues

With things that affect us we need more than just you feeling bad 

And crying about your whiteness into tissues

No one wants your pity party or your half hearted platitudes or deep shame

We simply want you to acknowledge what’s happening and it’s not simply about collective blame

It’s more complicated than that and yet also  surprisingly simplistic too

It’s about recognizing that there’s many intentional and embedded flaws in our system 

As well as privilege that for a few different reasons happens to favor you 

Nobody pretends that that’s truly your fault, for the circumstances under which you were born 

They just want you to care and acknowledge how much stuff for them is unjustly screwed 

No one is trying to make you feel miserable just for being we just want to be able to stop mourning

Because some people feel others deserve death for simply being slightly slow and cautious about a warning

Is it too much to ask to for BIPOC to not have to have this constant fear or exhaustion in our lives

Of course it’s also important to not treat POC or black people as a monolith 

That’s very important to realize 

It’d probably help in relieving a lot of the guilt 

What would also help is not waiting till a tragedy happens to temporarily care and empathize 

BIPOC don’t need your fleeting pity or your fake trends and selectively outraged cries 

We just want to feel safe and not like we’re always under attack or being told to shut up through comforting lies 

I could go on but I hope my point is clear

We don’t need your guilt 

We just need you to lend a better helping hand

Both when tragedy happens and also when it isn’t here 

Also don’t badger constantly badger us personally with questions or for perspective 

After all information is kind of what the internet was made for

And we’re only human so please respect that and don’t make conversations a chore 

Or else you might actually receive someone’s ire 

But that would be because you were testing probably already well tested patients 

And not because of some “reverse racism” or the coincidently white color of your skin 

So I hope you take this to heart whenever there’s a sensitive subject and you feel the need to chime in