Background— I grew up in a loving 2 parent household. We are white. My parents are both conservative, and I still hold some of those values myself (although I have branched out and formed my own opinions and beliefs). They are great people. I firmly believe that. They are definitely the type to say “all lives matter” in response to the BLM movement, though, and I’m trying to figure out how to spark a discussion with them that will be as productive and gentle as possible.
They see the few nasty comments directed toward white people and they hold on to them. They remember news stories and videos from years ago when the BLM activist group was just getting started, and they think that all they do is act out with violence and hatred toward white people. They are playing “devils advocate” under a lot of Facebook posts about George Floyd’s murder. “He didn’t deserve to die. But he had drugs in his system (gasp) and has been in and out of jail.”
Please don’t say hateful things about my parents. They are not awful people. They hold some unfortunate opinions and beliefs, but I firmly believe that nastiness is not the right way to go about changing those beliefs. I held them, too, right up until I hit my 20s and started to form my own opinions, and I know that people who were rude and vicious to me made the process of shedding my harmful views even slower.
TL;DR: my parents don’t understand the core of the BLM movement, and think it’s a group that hates white people. Help me foster a loving and insightful conversation
Submitted June 04, 2020 at 06:44PM by siriuslycharmed https://ift.tt/2A6w3dN
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