This week’s opening thought, directed at people of pallor: Last Friday, I posted about how the current hubbub around that one particular Epstein e-mail was rooted in homophobia. By Sunday morning, I watched as hundreds of comments from an overwhelmingly large number of people of pallor called my queer self everything from a coward and a hetero mansplainer to homophobic for calling out casual homophobia and hoping we could all be just a little better than the 800 sexual innuendo memes floating across the internet right now. Most of them had profile bios touting their liberal views. Fun!

Meanwhile, a person of pallor I know posted a similar message to my own a day after my original post. The response they got? Nothing but kudos, atta boys, and agreements from other people of pallor.

Real talk?

I really need people of pallor, especially the “moderates” and the “allies,” to own why they hop online and attack Black and Brown folx, especially Black women and intersectional melanated folx, for having informed views and opinions that call you in or out for doing and saying harmful things then turn around and applaud people of pallor who damn near copy and paste what we already posted or said that irked you so much you couldn't contain your outrage towards us but could swallow hearing it from a plagiarizing skin-susceptible-to-the-sun virtue signaler.

I mean, we, the melanated masses, know why you do what you do. But I can't help but wonder if y'all ever have a moment in your day where you take a second to sit with your ingrained white supremacist values long enough to realize no matter how many rallies you attend, causes you swear you support, or books you read, you're still too thin-skinned to look yourselves in the mirror and process how angry Black and Brown folx, Black women, and melanated queer folx make you feel about how “good” as neighbors, co-workers, and community members y'all actually are