If you’re a person of color exhausted by having to explain over and over on social media why “all lives” aren’t treated the same by police or why producer Issa Rae saying she’s “rooting for everybody black” is not racist, one group is here to help you: White Nonsense Roundup.
The volunteer-run Facebook group, founded last year by friends Layla Tromble and Terri Kempton in Washington state, has white people respond to racist trolls online at the request of people of color.
“If a white person is filling your social media with white nonsense ― anything from overt racism to well-intentioned problematic statements, tag us and a white person will come roundup our own,” the group’s Facebook post reads.
At a time of deep political divides and tensions around racism and white supremacy, the group exists to support people of color, who are all too often the targets of online hate but are also often asked by white people to explain everyday race-related issues, from why NFL player Colin Kaepernick took a knee during the national anthem to why you can’t just touch a black woman’s hair.
“It’s the responsibility of us white folks to do the emotional labor that’s required to educate other white folks ― and it shouldn’t be required of people of color again and again,” Tromble told HuffPost. “One of the goals of the service is to do some of that labor for people. Let them go have a drink and not worry about nonsense going on on their Facebook.”