Honestly, what good is having a platform if you don’t lend it to those whose voices NEED to be heard?
I’m stepping aside and here are some of our black community’s voices that need to be heard.
“Thank you. I’m honestly tired of fighting. It would help for those who benefit from the system to fight. Cause I’m tired.” – Beatrice
“To me, the best thing you can do is correct others. Educate them. If they are labeling us a the problem. Educate them. I have FB friends who I see allow racist remarks on their posts. That’s not helping at all.” – ShaElla
“People are protesting for the right to be treated as human beings. Let that sink in…we have to ask to be treated as humans. Eventually you get tired of asking and you demand it. It’s exhausting.” – Nikki
“We need you to be vocal against racism all the time. Educate yourselves and people in your communities. Do not tolerate coded language and behaviors. Use your privilege.” – Alyxaundria
“Here to encourage any other white creators to start using your voice and speak up like Rachel is doing. Your brand is not more important than this. Other white people need to hear you. POC are tired.” – Jacqueline
“A tough question that may help spark empathy in others is: What if it was you and your family? How would you feel?” – Kierra
“Speak up. Speak up in places of POWER. Not just from behind the computer screen. Educate your community on how the system is destroying black people. How it’s killing black people. It’s a worldwide conversation but it needs to be had. The privileges which you have been afforded is due to systematic racism. And we all need to be honest about that. All black peoples want is equality and in 2020 we are still begging for that. Didn’t enough of our ancestors die for this ?” – Rena
“And if I get one more email/see another Facebook/IG post from another brand who has never once, NOT EVER, featured a person of colour in their marketing. Much less ever said a single word about #blacklivesmatter, I’ll cry. The fake outrage for clicks and views, is worse than silence. Thanks for asking what we NEED today, rather than just spewing of some emotive blah blah.” – Stacey
“Maybe make a concious effort to seek out and work with us black businesses. In addition to incidents of bigotry we face in our personal lives, it’s also painful when we as black business owners get shut out of business opportunity which happens so often as well. As a female black business owner who owns both a marketing company and social media management company, I’ve experienced being shunned for projects because the potential client is afraid of the project looking or being slanted a certain way (too black for their brand), which is hardly what would be the case. So perhaps making a commitment to work with us more would be a good start.” – Priscilla