“White People Hate Protests” has been in the works for a couple of years. I, like many of you, have been soooooo annoyed and tired of revisionist history about public support of protest, particularly among white folks. It continues to be mentioned time and again that before his assassination Dr. King who is CONSTANTLY invoked by some white people as the most magical of Negroes today was one of the most HATED people in the U.S. This gets mentioned often as a rebuttal to claims made especially by white moderates that they wish everyone would “just act like King” so that they (white moderates) could then comfortably “support” their causes. This is pretty much bullshit.

So last year, I finally had enough. I posted on Facebook that I would welcome support from anyone who wanted to help me to create a small zine titled “White People Hate Protests.” A couple of people reached out and offered their help. First, Simon Daniel helped me by researching some public opinion polls from the 1960s which I used in this publication. Next, Dr. Carolyn Chernoff offered her help by writing an introduction and also doing the layout for the zine. Dr. Tamara Nopper and Josh Begley read this zine at various stages and offered helpful feedback. Finally, Kelly Hayes agreed (on very short notice) to offer some closing thoughts for the zine. My sincere gratitude to all of them.

While this zine was a team effort, all of the errors and mistakes are mine. So whatever you’re unhappy with, take it up with me.

I expect that no one who is white is going to come at me with “Not All White People.” I know this because this zine is of course generalizing AND is a particular statement on whiteness and white supremacy. I hope that white people will share this with other white people. I think that it can be used as a conversation starter, as a teaching tool, as consciousness-raising etc…

While I conceived this zine with white people in mind as an audience, I believe that everyone would appreciate its contents. We’ve made the publication available in two formats: one that can be easily viewed online and a booklet that can be printed. Feel free to print copies of this and leave them in public spaces in your communities including your places of worship, schools, libraries, supermarkets, everywhere.  I have no illusions that everyone will fully appreciate that protests are always unpopular but I do hope that more people will after reading this zine.

Here’s the link to access the zine: https://tinyurl.com/whiteshateprotests . You can also CLICK HERE to access it.

Please share it far and wide.