Richardson even organized a virtual chat with Joseph for the Jacksonville Public Library system and made it available to anyone who wanted to attend. To be clear, the city of Jacksonville didn’t propose to round up all the little white kids, march them to the local library and make them read the book. In fact, every parent in Jacksonville had the option of doing the things they did every day, including not attending the event that was, again, about having a Black friend.

However, white people refused to put up with this B.S. At a town hall last week, Jacksonville residents spoke out against their city’s effort to indoctrinate their children with this anti-racist nonsense.

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“This past weekend, Gov. Ron DeSantis said we will not teach critical race theory in our schools because it is hateful, it is contrary to Dr. King’s message and it divides people,” said one pro-racism advocate. “Yet tomorrow, the public library is having a Zoom program. Frederick Joseph, the author of The Black Friend: How to be a Better White Person. Imagine what would happen if you had a white person or a white man stand up and say ‘A white man or a white woman on being a better white person.’”

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Allow me to answer that question.

I can’t imagine what that would be like because I don’t have to. I can just turn on Tucker Carlson or listen to white people talk about Black-on-Black crime, not resisting and why we need to focus on education. But, as an educated negro who somehow resists Black-on-Black crime-ing, I use a novel approach known as “minding my own damned business.”

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However, unlike this man who was subjected to the egregious inhumanity of being called a “cracker” one time, I recognize that I may be biased. Because I can’t understand why anyone would object to anyone learning how to be a better person, I decided to ask someone who may have a better perspective.

“It wasn’t surprising,” Frederick Joseph told The Root. “I get death threats and things like that on a regular basis. I think what was surprising in seeing it, um, was that it was done in this space of criticizing a child really. I mean, Taylor is, 16 or 17 years old but, for all intents and purposes, she’s still a child. But people are so entitled in their white supremacy and conditioning within white supremacy that they don’t even see her youth as being something that they should consider. Or her safety, quite frankly.”

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“There were many feelings that arose in me after seeing the video,” Taylor Richardson told The Root. “People want all the books I donated removed from the libraries locally and want to pull the chat next week.”

But the backlash wasn’t confined to this one meeting. Anti-racism-resistant whites took to social media to share their discontent with the horror of not having to read a book that they don’t want to read.

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Image for article titled A Black Girl's Event on Being a Better White Person Has Triggered the Worst White People
Screenshot: Twitter
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Image for article titled A Black Girl's Event on Being a Better White Person Has Triggered the Worst White People
Screenshot: Facebook
Image for article titled A Black Girl's Event on Being a Better White Person Has Triggered the Worst White People
Screenshot: Facebook
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“You know, it’s ironic that one of the things that white people hate more than anything is being called racist,” Joseph explained. “We see [people say] ‘I’m not racist; you are,’ while perpetuating racism actively. Because being called a racist has much more reflection on who you are. And you can’t really argue it if the person who’s receiving it says that you’re doing it. So it seems like in every other system, in every other way, white people get to decide who, what, where, why and when, except when it comes to racism. And they don’t like that.”

However, unlike the angry adults who swear they aren’t racist, Richardson’s response to the controversy was to rise above it, as the teenager explained:

One thing that never was an option was giving up and bowing down to ignorance. With this platform on social media comes the responsibility to expose injustices around you. The Black Friend, for me, has made me feel seen and heard. It’s why to date I have donated over 2000 books to people all around the world. In hopes that we all will take a look in the mirror and make change.”

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She still hopes that people will join the online event with the Jacksonville Public Library. Of course, being a high school student, an activist, and a future astronaut, Richardson might be unaware that, according to her white counterparts, white supremacy is the only substance in the known universe that can be destroyed by ignoring it.

“You know, James Baldwin said: ‘Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced,” Richardson noted, to which a grown-ass man replied.

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Image for article titled A Black Girl's Event on Being a Better White Person Has Triggered the Worst White People
Screenshot: Twitter

See?

He’s cured.