When “move on” means “you’re making me feel uncomfortable, so STFU”
This essay is directed at a white audience in hopes of bridging the gap in understanding about what it means when white people tell black people to “move on.”*
White people have the capacity to fully understand what that “move on” assertion really means if they are willing to look hard and closely at their own experiences of pain similarly discounted by people who are clueless about what you’ve experienced in your life.
I will explain this using examples from my own life.
I don’t want to minimize or distract from the political nature of “get over it; MOVE ON” statements with respect to racism [I say more about that later]; and I definitely don’t want to make this “all about me.” Instead, I offer this personal story to show white people who’ve suffered deep pain how they can understand the anger of people of color when they are told to “move on.”
Such personal stories from white people are in no way intended as an excuse for white people to say, “See, I know what you’re feeling” and then not have to listen further. Because we don’t know what a person of color experiences. We can understand structural similarities in experiences, but the every day, global relentlessness of racism makes that pain quantitatively and qualitatively different.
