Looking Away Is a Choice

There are moments in history that don’t whisper. They don’t arrive gently. They demand that we see them.

This is one of those moments.

When Donald Trump posted an image depicting Barack and Michelle Obama as apes, it wasn’t subtle. It wasn’t ambiguous. It wasn’t a misunderstanding or a “difference of opinion.” It was racism - old, grotesque, and deliberate. The kind of racism that has always relied on one thing to survive: silence.

Some people looked away. Some scrolled past. Some said nothing.

And that, too, was a choice.

Rev. Dr. Mark Sandlin said it plainly: “Looking away is a choice - and it’s the wrong one.” That sentence has been sitting with me, heavy and unmoving, because it tells the truth without decoration. Neutrality, in moments like this, is not neutral. It is permission.

Black people are tired.

Tired of explaining. Tired of justifying their pain. Tired of carrying the burden of education, advocacy, and restraint - often all at once, often alone.

They are tired of having to prove their humanity to people who benefit daily from systems built on denying it.

This is where the conversation must shift.

Being not racist is passive. It is internal. It is quiet. It asks nothing of you except personal comfort.

Being anti-racist is different.

Anti-racism speaks up when it would be easier to stay silent. Anti-racism corrects misinformation at family tables and comment sections. Anti-racism costs something - comfort, approval, convenience.

And yes, anti-racism is loud.

It does not look away. It does not wait for Black voices to lead every charge. It does not say, “That’s terrible,” and then move on unchanged.

White people do not need to be centered in this work - but we do need to be accountable in it. The responsibility to dismantle racism does not belong solely to those harmed by it. That expectation itself is another injustice.

Silence is not peace. Silence is not kindness. Silence is not neutrality.

Silence is a side.

If an image like that doesn’t move you to speak, to act, to draw a line - then ask yourself why. Ask yourself who benefits from your quiet. Ask yourself what future your silence helps build.

History does not remember who was comfortable. It remembers who stood up.

Looking away is a choice. So is standing up.

Choose wisely.