“If you don’t love this country you can politely unfollow me. You have no business here.”
That’s a direct quote from one of the white bloggers I’ve followed for a few years now on the Instagram post she shared on Saturday. Another follower told her not to forget about all of the work that still needs to be done as far as oppression and racism go, how liberty and justice still aren’t for all, and this blogger snapped. The follower who commented on the post didn’t say anything about not loving this country, not in her first or second comment but that’s what the blogger automatically assumed. In fact, that’s what’s assumed by a lot of people when folks speak out against injustices in this country. It’s assumed that we don’t love this country, but that’s not true.
Now let me preface this by saying that this blogger jumped on the #BlackoutTuesday movement, though I no longer see that on her page, and she’s even said that she’s said that she will never understand the “injustice(s) that minorities face…it’s unacceptable…” and that she’ll “educate (herself) and (her) family to ensure (they) don’t allow it to continue”.
I don’t know if that was all for show or what, but her response to that commenter on Saturday triggered me because it’s one I hear too often.
If you don’t like it here go back to Africa.
Well, why don’t you just leave?
Why is that the automatic jump when any kind of critique is made about this country? The act of speaking up against injustices or criticizing how things are run is inherently American. Whether it’s leaving Britain, rioting, and looting in Boston over tea, women’s suffrage, civil rights, etc. As a country, we’ve always spoken out against and fought for things we wanted to change. But for some reason when it’s Black and Brown people speaking out we’re told to “go back to where we came from”.
And by people whose ancestors immigrated here themselves!!!
It baffles me the descendants of immigrants have the audacity to tell other people to leave a land that doesn’t belong to them! That’s not how any of this works. And like I said, it’s inherently American to speak up and rock the boat if you see or experience injustice. It’s the love that we have for this country that makes us want to make it a better place. It’s the love and pride that we have for our home that makes us fight to make sure that everyone gets life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Everyone.
So don’t tell us that we don’t love this country because we’re speaking out on how it can be better, Tanner.