I don't think this is a fair representation of what happened on Jan 6th. First, a white woman was shot and killed that day. But also, the Capitol police were hopelessly outnumbered and unprepared. I don't think they responded the way they did because he crowd was mostly white. And I don't think the occasional white person at BLM protests calmed the police response. Those crowds were still overwhelmingly black people. I think they didn't turn violent because the protests themselves were mostly non-violent.
As for shopping at businesses run by people of color, sure, of course I'm not suggesting that white people should stay away. I'm saying that it's a business owner's responsibility to make their products appealing to their customers. And I think we're just as capable of doing this and anybody else. Simply demanding people shop at our stores purely because of our melanin levels is pretty infantilising, no?
Lastly, I had my hair touched quite a few times when I was a little kid, I didn't mind at all. I touched theirs too. Most of my classmates were white and they were curious. If I'd told them to stop they would have stopped, but it didn't happen enough that I felt the need. I appreciate that YMMV on this one. But I think it's kind of sad that we've conflated curiosity about physical differences with oppression or bigotry.
Black people's hair is different to white people's hair. This is just a fact. I personally think it feels nicer. And I think wanting to touch it is therefore understandable. Of course, that isn't a license to touch people in any way without permission. If people are just regularly rocking up and grabbing a handful of your hair without permission, that's obviously a different story. But I don't think many people can honestly claim that's their experience.
But to be clear, I'm not saying that every single item on the list is stupid (though most of them are) or that conversations about race aren't needed. I'm saying that the tone of these conversation has become stupid and divisive and counterproductive. I'm saying that all of the items on the list, even the ones you're pointing to here, can be addressed with the much simpler; "treat us the same as everybody else". Touch our hair just as often as you touch other people's. Frequent our businesses just as regularly. Assume we're diversity candidates just as often. On and on.
Most people don't do this stuff to other people, so all good. They shouldn't do it to us either. And the people who do it to everyone, by definition, aren't doing it because of racism. They're doing it because they're socially illiterate or aren't interested in the products we sell or resent people who are more capable than they are. And in these cases, telling ourselves that the issue is racism is debilitating.
