In November 2021 I wrote a piece on the need for white people to protest white supremacy and I followed that a little over a year ago with a piece that tried to strengthen the argument on how social media controls how protest could facilitate the spread of awareness in white communities, in both the virtual and real worlds we inhabit. As part of the second piece I argued that white people needed to not just attend protests in support of our Black neighbors, but we needed to share those experiences with others too. Many white folks have never seen, much less attended a protest, in real life. I attended my first street protest at age 35, so I was one of those people too. But as I started to become more aware of the issues surrounding me, I also started to notice the photos and videos in my social media feeds. In fact it's a bit tough to tell which came first anymore, and that's my point. 

Seeing people you know post photos or videos of a protest they attended carries a different weight. Seeing tens of thousands of people from a helicopter view on the news can certainly give you a sense of awe. But seeing someone you know, or at least follow, posting pictures that they took, documenting their participation showing support of something that mattered personally to them just hits different. They're often not good pictures. You're usually too low to get a good picture of the whole crowd. Do you smile in a protest selfie? What's the etiquette governing such things? Sometimes I try to get overly artsy and fixate on the composition.

But my point was we, fellow white people, need to attend protests and take pictures and post them on social media (yes, especially LinkedIn) for our friends and connections to see. So here are my photos from the #JusticeForNajee protest in Paterson last night. Consider joining me for the next one, or one local to you, and make sure you post photos.