As a white person, I recognize my privilege and responsibility to advocate for racial equality. In 2020, one and a half centuries after the emancipation proclamation came about and four decades after the “end” of segregation, the fact that there are still hate crimes being committed, police brutality targeted entirely towards races that are not white, and simply massive amounts of racial injustice within government and society is truly sickening. As a white individual, as a Jewish white individual, I know that it is my job to advocate for these causes, to use my white privilege to do everything and anything I can to combat this revolting injustice. Unfortunately, not many white people share that knowledge of their responsibility, and are the perpetrators of this outdated racist ideology that results in far too much pain.

That said, I’ve been seeing a lot of posts on social media shaming people who are utilizing social media to actually be social right now. I’ve seen posts that accuse people who are simply posting Snapchat stories, or Instagram and Facebook posts of their daily walks with their friends, or their day at the pool, of being a part of the problem. Since when did it become a crime to use social media for what it was meant to be used for…? Yes, if an individual is posting about their social life on their public accounts while also blatantly disregarding their responsibility as a person of privilege, that is completely problematic. However, to incriminate someone as being a part of the problem for posting a photo of their beer from their pool side, placing them on the same level as white supremacists who refuse to acknowledge this problem, is far from helpful.

I think that recently, specifically in the last few weeks, even days, a large percentage of our American society has seemingly forgotten that we are in the middle of a worldwide pandemic. While the COVID curve may have been flattened, the pandemic is most certainly still in effect. And in turn, the mental health pandemic is still at one of the worst points it has been at in a long, long time. Restaurants, bars, movie theaters, you name it; they are all still closed, at least in the state of Michigan. Social media was created for the purpose of connecting people. In a time where physical connection can quite literally be dangerous, socializing on social media is not problematic, nor is it representative of complicity in the current state of the racial climate in America; instead, it is actually crucial. I would be lying if I said I was okay with the way mental health has been treated over the course of 2020 so far. In fact, I would be lying if I left it at “I’m frustrated”. In actuality, I am enraged by how mental health is being treated during this pandemic, similarly to how I am enraged by the racial injustices and horrors taking place in our country, decades after the issue should have been eradicated in its entirety.

With all of the negativity going on in the world right now, what with Coronavirus, the rise in mental illness among all demographic populations, and the truly disgusting murders of black people at the hands of their supposed protectors, the light at the end of the tunnel seems almost inexistent. But we need to come together, not point fingers at individuals who are hardly the problem. The problem is white supremacy, the problem is a government that does not validate mental illness in its healthcare system, the problem is your neighbor who refuses to wear a mask or follow their local or state government’s to stay home. The problem is NOT the kid who lived in your dorm freshman year posting pictures of them and their family up north. Stop creating problems that don’t exist. This is called scapegoating, and that is what the problem is. It draws attention away from the real issues, and when there are this many real issues, we simply cannot afford lost attention.

Martin Luther King Jr. has been known to promote Jewish black solidarity due to our seemingly parallel histories. For the sake of tying back my original point, all white people should recognize their privilege and therefore their social responsibility. Beyond that, all Jews need to recognize the similarities between what is going on now with the black population, and what has gone on in the past for our population. If you get nothing else from this post, please just take away the fact that if you are white, you need to speak out. If you are Jewish and you get nothing else from this post, take away the fact that the black population is being exterminated at the hands of racist white authority; something we should be all too familiar with, and motivated to fight against.

"First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me." - Martin Niemöller

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