I did not grow up in a house where we watched much football. I had never been to a college football game until I came to school at Alabama. Consequentially, I don’t know a lot about football, and I don’t talk about football much. I acknowledge that my opinions are ill-informed and are not going to contribute much to the conversation. This doesn’t mean I don’t have anything to contribute to other conversations.

White people need to figure this out about police violence and the Black Lives Matter movement. An uneducated, uninformed opinion is neither helpful nor necessary to share, and should be kept to yourself. As white people, we grew up being told that police would protect us. We grew up knowing that the color of our skin would only help us. We grew up with the privilege of being white in a nation that was built for white people. That experience is not everyone’s experience. It is not the experience of Terence Crutcher, Keith Lamont Scott, Alton Sterling or Mike Brown. It is not the experience of our classmates who did not grow up with the privilege of white skin.

This week, while white people are spouting their unfounded opinions about what constitutes a valid protest, how people should comply with law enforcement, or what the purpose of policing in America is, I think of the young black men in my life who fear for their own lives. I think of the young black women who fear for themselves and who cry thinking of their brothers and fathers and cousins who could very well be the next headline flashing across our screens. Their experience in America is one of valid, statistically backed fear. White people need to stop talking over that fear by speaking only from their own experience.

In short, white people need to educate ourselves. The best way to do this, of course, is within the context of trustful, respectful relationships with black friends or role models. Hearing from the source the reasons and the experiences that lead people to react in different ways to police violence and protests is important. However, these conversations can be hard to come by for a variety of reasons, not limited to the fact that it is not the responsibility of black people to tutor white people in these issues. The next best thing is to read. Find an unbiased news source or, more helpfully, several news sources, knowing that they all have a little bias, and read about what’s going on in the world. Know the facts. Then, read what’s being written by any of the many wonderful black writers who are sharing their experiences and opinions online. Some of it may be hard to understand at first. Some of it may even upset you. Read it anyway. Read about all the things we can never understand because we grew up white. Understand why people are protesting. Understand the history that created a state in which the deaths of black people at the hands of the police don’t lead to anyone going to jail. Understand why this is unacceptable.

Then, be very careful of the way you talk about it. Your second hand education will still never match what it feels like to not be white. What it feels like to be terrified that the color of your skin is a death sentence if you are selling CDs or broken down on the side of the road. Use your education not to whitesplain to black people, but to further the just causes that are finally getting their day in our lifetime.

Black Lives Matter is not just a hashtag. It seeks to establish policies of community policing. It seeks better use of body cameras. It seeks justice for the men and women who are killed at the hands of the police. It seeks an America where it is possible to work from the bottom and not be held back by the color of your skin.

Wake up, white people. Get woke. Stop comparing Charlotte’s protests to Martin Luther King without understanding the history you’re referencing. Stop generalizing Black Lives Matter to a violent few. Stop claiming that you want “real change” instead of “just a hashtag” when what you really want is for black people to be quiet about the violence they face every day. Work for that real change. Protest or write, or if you do absolutely nothing else, vote. Vote not only for a presidential candidate who is not a blatant racist, but in local and state elections that will determine the policies of the police our children and the children of our black brothers and sisters will live with. The first step to all of that is to educate yourself. 

Allison Mollenkamp is a junior majoring in English and theatre. Her column runs biweekly.