Aoki Lee Simmons Calls Out Her Non-Black Friends Amid George Floyd’s Death: I See Your Silence!

Aoki Lee Simmons

Aoki Lee Simmons Calls Out Her Non-Black Friends Amid George Floyd’s Death: I See Your Silence!

Aoki Lee Simmons, daughter of entrepreneur and fashion model Kimora Lee Simmons and Def Jam co-founder Russell Simmons, has taken to Instagram to call out her friends of other ethnicities who, in her view, have been silent about issues in the black community. Aoki Lee Simmons‘ heartfelt message comes two days after protests and riots first broke out in Minneapolis and in Los Angeles following the death of George Floyd, a 46-year-old African-American male who died after being handcuffed and then pinned to the ground by a Caucasian police officer’s knee.

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Aoki Lee Simmons, who is becoming known for speaking out regarding racial injustices, started her message saying she “cannot begin to unpack your silence” and is frightened of what that silence will tell her. She then continues, seeming to be ashamed of her choices in friends:

The things you are here for and the things you are not, what do they say about you? About me for choosing you? I am ashamed that this is as far as I’ll go, a toe in the water of truth. Just a shade of the other side of myself, that side buried or surfaced that is blackness beyond color.

The 17-year-old, who was accepted to Harvard at 16, goes on to say that she and other black people “need” them in the fight against racial injustice:

You’ve been told explicitly in black and white and subtweet. You know the brutal message I have received. If black people need you, I need you. And you know me, right? Your study buddy, your dance partner, your romantic interest, the very same.

She ended with,

“So don’t say you didn’t know, I’ve just told you. Be honest, and say for that side of me, you didn’t care.”

“I can’t fight every single person who uses racial slurs, but you can be damn sure you’re not going to call me the N word in class during group work. I can’t stand ppl sometimes you think that stuff doesn’t happen in a nice school or a nice neighborhood, but rest assured it does. I’ve had ENOUGH. You’re gonna stop telling me I’m not black cause I’m mixed. You’re going to stop telling me ‘I’m the only black person who doesn’t like being called a nigga’ and you’re going to stop disrespecting me cause I’ve had it. You know who you are or one of your lil friends can tell you since I have you blocked.”