I loved Marley K! Unfortunately I've missed her writings for the past few years because I blundered when I first got here. In my clumsy newbie ignorance, I got out of my lane and got blocked. Couldn't even apologize. I missed her so much!

Last I checked, Medium has a rule against (anything that's perceived as) hate speech, with some exceptions made for minority writers (last I checked.) But I guess she crossed too many white people too many times.

White people need to quit taking it so personally when Black people talk about systemic racism. Systemic racism isn't an individual character flaw; it's baked into the laws and customs of this country. While Black people and real allies know this, most people who look like me get all defensive when they hear Black people talk about redlining, police brutality, poor outcomes in the systems of health care, education, the prison industrial complex, etc. They shift the discussion from "here's a problem in society that we (Black people) have to deal with" to "but I'm not racist! Racists are bad people and I'm not bad!"

They're missing the point, and deflecting from a necessary and long-overdue discussion. No one is talking about whether or not you're a bad person. We're talking about systems. I can't help but think that any white person who gets personally offended when hearing about systemic racism has gotten themselves too personally identified with the system. They been white too long.

I've tried explaining this to other white folks that we need to quit taking it personally when Black folks talk about racism. We need to see how none of us are free till all of us are free. And get on board to solve the problems rather than making it about "but I'm not racist, I'm not bad!" But it's like I just stepped off a UFO and speaking a language from Alpha Centauri or something. SMH.

Sorry to see you go, Marley K. You'll be missed.