Dear White People: Colored People Can Be (And Very Often ARE) Just Better Than You.

Attacking DEI is easier than coming to terms with the fact that whiteness never made you superior in any way.

My name is Brie, and I’ve been friends with black and brown people my entire life.

As a kid, it didn’t occur to me that I was doing anything groundbreaking; my best friend Natasha and I weren’t aware that our friendship embodied a piece of MLK Jr’s “I Have A Dream” speech, we just joined our little white and black hands in sisterhood and that was that. I spent lots of time as the only white person in groups of black and brown people. I was dubbed an honorary hispanic and an uh-oh oreo. I had plenty of white friends, too, don’t get me wrong, I’ve just always had deep, rich friendships with people of color who enriched my life experiences in every possible way.

Coming into adulthood, though, it became VERY clear, very quickly, that the vast majority of white people did not have these types of experiences; I couldn’t help but notice the subtle shift when a person of color entered the room, even by well-meaning white people. In the best circumstances, it was like a naive tentative form of speech, as if they were using guardrails out of caution. In the worst circumstances, white people would quite literally put up a wall, and shift only to topics of conversation that were surface level while people of color were in the room.

It’s hard to adequately explain, because it’s subconscious; white supremacy has been so deeply baked into our society since its very founding, these patterns are subtle and designed to be invisible to white people.

But here’s the thing; Google is free and the books have been written, y’all.

I’m going to say this with my whole chest to white people, and I’m not really sorry if it offends you:

Some black people are just better than you are.

Some brown people are just better than you are.

Some asian people, lgbtqia+ people, indigenous people… they’re just better than you are.

It’s really important that you hear this now, because eliminating DEI is not going to change that reality, and the media isn’t pointing this out.

When I was growing up, black people and brown people (in particular, black girls) were better than me at just about everything; Takia was the best gymnast on the cheerleading team. Ayomide was the valedictorian. Cortney was an absolute beast on the basketball court. Natasha was smarter, more generous in spirit and more kind-hearted than I could ever hope to be. These realities didn’t make me feel any less-than them, but time and time again in adulthood, I’ve watched white people throw absolute hissy fits because they can’t accept this fact.

The saddest part?

You have no idea what you’re missing out on, the disservice you’re doing to yourself. You have absolutely NO IDEA how much people of color make your life better, richer, sweeter, and fuller in every freaking way.

They do the same for this country, and dammit, there should be at least one white person willing to point that out.