Police brutality, disenfranchisement, and the school-to-prison pipeline are just a few of the many ingrained issues facing people of color in the United States, but this summer isn’t about that. It’s about you! Indulge in the luxury you are entitled to and ensure that this is your most relaxing summer ever with these soothing, systemic-racism-ignoring tips.
Unplug.
Technology can be so stressful, what with your boss always emailing you and your Facebook friends constantly posting the images of people who have been murdered by the police. You need to unwind, girl, and that involves cutting all that negativity out of your life. If you don’t want to be totally in the dark about presidential hopefuls and celebrity feuds, turn on cable news; they’re as invested in ignoring structural inequality as you are!
Stay focused on the good news.
This summer hasn’t been all bad, despite what the Debbie Downers would have you believe. Remember when SCOTUS made gay marriage legal across the United States, and everything was rainbows and celebration? Cling to this victory with all your strength while not considering how this win does nothing to lower the death rate of trans women of color. You deserve it!
Meditate.
Meditation is a great way to improve yourself without challenging your beliefs or exiting your comfort zone. If you’re new to the practice, it’s good to start by reciting a mantra over and over, such as “I am a good person” or “I am not a racist.” You’ll emerge feeling refreshed and validated, to the delight of your all-white social circle!
Read something light.
Some of your friends have recommended Roxane Gay’s Bad Feminist, Ta-Nehisi Coates’s Between The World and Me, and Toni Morrison’s God Help The Child, but summer isn’t the time to empathize with the struggles of people from different backgrounds than you. It’s about escapism, and you of all people deserve an escape. So make yourself a marg, sit back in a hammock, and whisk yourself away to a place where nothing matters, especially race.
Surround yourself with positivity.
Do you want to lounge by the beach with people who are discussing mandatory minimum sentencing laws or with people who will be speculating if Stacy is pregnant? Surrounding yourself with positive people will help keep you positively, blissfully ignorant of what’s going on around you. You wouldn’t want your bummer friends killing the vibe by calling out the ways your silence makes you complicit in structural inequality, anyway. It’s summer, beyotch!!
This August, help the #BlackLivesMatter movement by living your best, most relaxed life. Fall is coming all too soon, and you’ll need all your strength to ignore ever more protests, devastating news stories, and social media campaigns, you busy, overworked girl!
