We Need To Move The War From Inside Out, Living Rooms To the Courtrooms
A guide on how to talk to an ignorant, older white generation in order to create unity and ignite a fire in them.
By Sienna Hicks
Illustration by Danie Drankwalter
We are fighting two wars right now.
The first is a war against racial injustices in America. They have always been here, from the day Native Americans had their homes and land taken away from them, to now, in 2020, against racial groups that are targeted as criminals. The second war is happening in the homes of people around the world, where they are having to educate others on the injustices happening in the world.
A majority of those who are educating others are part of Generation Z, a generation who does not tolerate the injustices their parents have allowed.
It is in the home of white Americans that a true war is arising; a conversation is arising, and an alliance is forming. It is between activists and informed young people. Activism is spreading, and with that comes education.
Education is one of the most important things in the world, and with access to the internet, information is everywhere. Not everyone may have equal access to the internet, but it is a tool and information access point that many utilize. Other than being a source of information, it is also a method of communication.
The internet unites people by letting them have conversations, and brings people with similar beliefs and interests together.
The Black Lives Matter movement is as powerful as ever because of how publicly shared the murder of George Floyd was on the internet. All over the world, people saw him being murdered through a video. It ignited conversations, creating change in America, in Paris, and around the world.
So, you're here to learn how to talk to your families about recently unveiled injustices that were not spoken about loud enough, but have always existed in America. How do you explain ACAB (All Cops are Bastards), or how we need to abolish the police to your older, white, Trump-supporting republican relatives?
Here are some mistakes I have made, and here is what I have learned:
I have attended seven protests— one of which I went to with my parents, and another that I told them about. The media had stopped highlighting the riots by then, which before, scared my parents into not wanting me to attend protests, even if they were peaceful. I snuck out to five of them.
I have learned that the language and statistics spoken of at the protests and on social media have not reached my conservative parents.
We need to stop being surprised when our parents do not understand how reforming police and starting a new system will help our wars. Instead of being angered by their ignorance, which certainly compels me to write this, we need to educate them instead— like how social media has been teaching us.
I watched the movie 13th tonight with my parents. My mom, who comes from a family of Egyptian immigrants, who has a masters degree, and who works in the psychiatric ward of a hospital, told me this while watching the documentary: “I didn’t know there was such a thing as a private prison.”
What? How could she not know of privatized government systems, and how corporations so frequently affect our government's policies and laws? While this shocked me, it made me wonder what other things she might not know, and how our generational gap affects the knowledge we share.
We have to start being responsible for educating our family members! It is not our fault that their generation was taught different things and did not have a wealth of information at their fingertips. Instead of being shocked, let’s try and educate.
Another mistake I have made is teaching without materials in front of me.
When your emotions are running high, and you have just learned so much new information, you tend to forget credible sources and facts. Try screenshotting the information and sources ahead of time, and refer back to them when educating others. It will lead to more of an educational and positive conversation, and less of a debate.
Let’s explain how the police have been mistreating black people from the time they were established, and how real systemic racism is, through the voice of others. Tell your family members how the police, as an organization, were created to capture slaves and punish black people— that the system criminalized black people so they would not lose their only workforce, their precious economy. Tell them that the 13th amendment created a loophole where criminals could be treated like slaves, so that they could continue to profit off of black people.
Inform them as calmly as you can.
By educating them, urging them to use their voice to teach others, and their ability to vote, you are making a real difference— even when stuck at home. It is our job to educate our family members. The black community has enough to deal with, as it is.
While we educate our families, let's show our maturity as a generation by forgiving them of this ignorance. It is the nation they live in that has been brainwashing them for generations. It is not their intent to have stood by a racist and corrupt system. If they are willing to learn, we must be willing to teach, not scold.