Dear White Ladies of a Certain Age,
Your daughters and sons are out there.
While you’re hoping your Black friend from college will answer your email about what book to read to make you a better person, your blue-eyed college freshman is walking down a city block holding a sign that says BLACK LIVES MATTER beside her Black peers.
While you and your white friends are wondering what your place is in all of this, your 20-year-old son is on his bike with 15 of his friends blocking traffic under the stoplight so that several thousand young people can walk safely towards the police precinct building.

While you wring your hands about whether you’re going to get yourself in trouble by saying the wrong thing, your daughter is kneeling with her hands in the air, making eye contact with a National Guardsman. She is yelling, from the depths of her lungs and heart, “Hands up, don’t shoot.”
While you are feeling isolated by your age, your privilege, and your mom-ness, your children are lying silent in the street for 8 minutes and 46 seconds, shoulder-to-shoulder with their Black friends, demanding the police watch them for the length of time George Floyd had a knee in his neck.
Your daughters and sons are out there.
They are following young Black leaders, they are joining in with their voices, and they are demanding necessary change to a system that is deadly. These young people — including your daughters and sons — are leading the way. They are organized, they are wearing masks, and they have snacks, water, and hand sanitizer to share with the older crowd who never thinks of any of these things. They bring bags to collect recycling, and they call ahead to businesses who offer them bathrooms and places to cool off. They are wearing sensible shoes. They are strong, and they are growing stronger.
These young Black organizers they are following are going to lead our country to a better, safer place. And your daughters and sons are out there with them.

White Ladies of a Certain Age: It’s time to have that conversation about race with your kids that you’ve been avoiding their whole lives, regardless of how awkward it will make you feel. But here’s the catch: it’s not you who will do the talking. Ask your daughters and sons about what they are demonstrating for – ask them about Breonna Taylor, Campaign Zero, and all the Black lives that have been impacted by police violence. They know the answers. Because they are out there – listening to their Black friends and leaders, engaging every day in what we think of as difficult conversations, and supporting and amplifying voices.
Your daughters and sons are out there following Black leaders. It’s your turn to do the same.
A few resources to help you get started:
Want a book to read? Get this one, or this one. And buy them from one of these stores. Your place is with the movement. Your place is supporting, amplifying, and standing up for racial justice. It is ok to start by just listening and learning. Get yourself a Twitter or Instagram account to follow some Black women and listen to what they have to say. You probably have money. Give some to bail funds and the street medics who are giving your kids first-aid. No money? These videos are donating ad revenue to BLM. Go play them.
Note: Op-Eds are contributions from guest writers and do not reflect editorial policy.
Photos by Christopher Brown III