Dear Would-Be Ally Who Messed Up

An open letter - because messing up is going to happen on this anti-racism journey

Author

Sharon Hurley Hall
May 11, 2022 • Estimated Reading Time: 2 minutes

Hello friends, when I wrote Dear Deluded Racists, I had no idea it would be so popular. Based on that, I’ve decided to do another letter format issue. Hope you enjoy it.

Dear Would-Be Ally Who Messed Up,

Trust, once lost, is hard to regain. And that goes double when white would-be allies default to whiteness and essentially betray their Black or Brown colleagues.

We may know that you're sincere and that your heart is in the right place. We may see you having difficult conversations and applying what you are reading and learning in daily action. Yet white supremacy is a hard pill to unswallow, and you will make mistakes on the journey. We get all that, but it still hurts when it happens.

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