whatwhiteswillneverknow:

I’m not segregating from you. But sometimes, I want to be around people who I can relax around.

Sometimes I want to be around people who will not oppress me, be it by accident, or on purpose.

Sometimes, I want to be around people who understand, fully, 100%, what I’m going through, because they go through it too.

Sometimes, I want to be around someone who will not make me aware of my race, and how I stand out on this campus, or anywhere else in this world that I might go.

Sometimes, I want to be around people who won’t make me feel like I don’t belong.

White friends, I’m not segregating myself from you. It’s just that sometimes, I need a break. Because I know that you mean well. And I know that you’re trying your best to avoid racism in its most simple form. But your white privilege. And having to deal with you exercising it tires me out. And having to constnatly think about battles because I have to choose which ones to fight, and which things to let slide, tires me out. And it’s not pleasant. And it’s not fun.

So when I run to the arms of people who look like me, and we all sit together for lunch, or hang out, or study together, we’re not segregating from the white population. We’re taking a break from white privilege, and pretending, just for a second, that we’re not under your feet.

Question to pose back: why do you hang out with old high school friends? Why are you more likely to clump with your friends from your frat or sorority or with people who also love going outdoors or people who also love cooking?

Because you have something in common.

It’s completely natural to want to hang out with people you share a common history or interest with. So why do you have to make it about people of color making a reaction to YOU? Why do you think that everything we do is to in reference to you? Isn’t it possible that we have some sort of agency and that we can define ourselves without reference to Caucasian people?

(via wtfwhiteprivilege)