That vitriolic response to expressions of black pride is not uncommon. For many white people, black pride (much less black power!) is seen as hateful, threatening, dangerous. "Is it not reverse racism," they ask? "If I wore a shirt that said "White Girls Rock" would I not be summoned to the principal's office for a dressing down? Why the double standard?" This issue was further down my list of Angry topics, but I decided to bump it to the top after seeing yet another post by a friend in a similar vein on Facebook yesterday.
It's been more than a month since George Floyd lost his life and the protests began. People are beginning to wear down, and some of the sillier surface gestures towards anti-racism (no longer calling master bedrooms "master" bedrooms, canceling Paw Patrol etc) are not helping at all. As a result the expected push back is coming, and coming strong. Some of it is the usual appeals to black pathology, the hauling out of black critics of Black Lives Matter, and murmurings about the specter of Communism with the statues being removed. But the ugly underbelly of all of this is starting to show as well. And so today, I thought I'd address this ambivalence (and perhaps downright disgust) towards black pride by taking apart the post I saw yesterday. I'm not going to "brutally destroy it" because I hate that kind of social media language (Watch this black woman brutally destroy Black Lives Matter in five minutes! Spare me). I'm just going to dismantle it, piece by piece. I may throw in a few other points in defense of black pride along the way.
I have often wondered why Whites are considered the only racists, and yet no other race is...... It's because while prejudice and hatred is the province of all human beings regardless of skin tone, racism requires having control of the levers of power. I think it would be hard to argue that black people or any other ethnic group besides whites hold the levers of power in this country (and yes I know we had a black president, and that there are all kinds of rich and powerful black Americans, but that's not at all the same as being the dominant cultural force in the country. I will unpack this more in an upcoming blog, so stay tuned).
There are African Americans, Mexican Americans, Asian Americans, Arab Americans, etc.
And then there are just Americans. Well, we are all Americans. African-American (as well as all the others ethnic identifiers) is not a qualifier of our status as Americans (or at least it shouldn't be). African-American in particular is actually a quite useful identifier since not all black people are African-American. There are Caribbean blacks, Latino blacks, and of course various Africans (Somali, Ghanaian, Kenyan etc) that are quite different culturally from black people who have lived in this country for generations and are part of the legacy of American slavery. African-American recognizes this distinct cultural group. You can identify as Irish-American or German-American if that is your desire. No one will accuse you being racist, I promise. You might even be able to swing Euro-American.
You call me 'White bitch,' 'Cracker,' 'Honkey,' 'Whitey,' 'Caveman'... And that's OK...No, that's not okay. And it's even worse if those words have historically been followed by an assault or a lynching by black mob that is supported by the police. It's even worse if you're attackers get away with it and society concludes that you probably did something to deserve it anyway. It's even worse if those words are more than hateful insults but a way of reminding you of your "appropriate" place in society. Perhaps as an adult you've also been called "boy" or "gal" as a way of reminding you that you're not on the same level as the black person who called you that. No? Hmmm.
You say that whites commit a lot of violence against you....
So why are the ghettos the most dangerous places to live? I don't know. Sounds like you feel already know the answer. I'm guessing it has something to do with the dysfunction of black culture or something like that. But could I point out what's not a dangerous place to live? A neighborhood with a lot of black people that isn't a ghetto (they exist!) So maybe it's not the race of the people living in the ghettos that are the problem. Here's the thing: When whites, especially whites in uniform (or the authority of the uniform backing them), do commit violence against us they tend to go unpunished. Which tends to lend to a sense of impunity among said white people. I don't go around in fear of white people in general, worried that violence will be unleashed on me at any moment. None of the black people I know do. We do, however, understand how important it is not to frighten white people as the response can be, shall we say, overzealous.
You have the United Negro College Fund. You have Martin Luther King Day.
You have Black History Month.
You have Cesar Chavez Day.
You have Yom Hashoah.
You have Ma'uled Al-Nabi.
You have the NAACP.
You have a BET...They don't have to "ours". You're welcome to celebrate them too! According to Wikipedia, you can even apply for a UNCF scholarship, even if you are not black! You see all of these observances you've mentioned exist because the contributions of the people of color to the history of this country have been minimized or ignored by mainstream (one could even say white) culture. The United Negro College Fund exists because it has historically been hard for many black people to go to college. Blacks weren't welcome in "your" colleges and universities for many years which is why we formed our own. The NAACP was created to advance the interests of colored people because those interests weren't being looked after by those in power. As for BET: When you watch TV an ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, HBO, who do you mostly see. Heck, when you watch the commercials, who do you mostly see? One could argue that you could lump all of that into one channel and call it WET. Part of the reason Black Entertainment Television exists is because of the long held assumption that white people won't watch media that features predominantly black people, that focus on traditionally black styles of music and culture. This has been proven wrong from Michael Jackson to the Cosby Show to Black Panther, but the belief persists that if there are too many black people on the screen than white people won't watch, that entertainment is for the "urban" audience. If you have an issue with BET, you might want to take that up with white Hollywood (although in fairness, according to Wikipedia, BET has taken a fair amount of criticism from a broad spectrum of black people for presenting a poor representation of black people to the world. So maybe that's not something you want to aspire to?). Finally what it is Yom Hashoah and Ma'uled Al-Nabi?
If we had WET (White Entertainment Television), we'd be racists.
If we had a White Pride Day, you would call us racists.
If we had White History Month, we'd be racists.
If we had any organization for only whites to 'advance' OUR lives, we'd be racists.As mentioned above you do kind of have WET and, it is kinda racist. Here's the thing about pride days and history months and organizations of your own. These things come about not in order to exclude people, but to celebrate and support those who are typically excluded. So if you spend all year learning about Barack Obama and Martin Luther King and Frederick Douglas, and you barely know the names George Washington and Thomas Edison and Walt Disney--like people have to intentionally teach them in school because no one talks about these people at all, well then it would make sense to have White History Month and it wouldn't be racist. I mean is there really a case to be made that white people have been historically held down for so long in this country that there needs to be an organization to advance their lives?
We have a Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, a Black Chamber of Commerce, and then we just have the plain Chamber of Commerce.
Wonder who pays for that??I had to look this one up. For the most part it appears that the members of the chamber of commerce "pay for that." There isn't just one "chamber of commerce"; there are many and they all have differing goals and priorities. The National Black Chamber of Commerce appears to also be supported by it's members and the goal seems to be empower black-owned business, embracing capitalism as a way for black businesses to thrive rather than relying solely on the "social fix" (that's from their website.) What could be more American than that? The United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce is in Spanish so I can't say for sure who pays for them, but my hunch is it's the members again. Given our cultural tendency towards the assumption of white competence it seems like such organizations might be useful to get the word out that non-white businesses can deliver the goods too!
A white woman could not be in the Miss Black American pageant, but any color can be in the Miss America pageant.In this country the standard of beauty is the white woman. I suppose if you'd gotten the message for generations in this country that black is beautiful and white is ugly, well I suppose there would be a place for a Miss White America. Miss Black America was formed to protest the lack of black women in the Miss America pageant. The first black woman to win the "regular" Miss America pageant was Vanessa Williams and you can see that she is fair skinned, with hair and features that look closer to white than black:
Since her win as Miss America 1984, I haven't been able to confirm how many winners were black. But as of 2010 the then 89 year old pageant had had only 8 black winners. And looking at the pictures I was able to find, with the exception of this year's winner, it's hard to tell whether some of them are black or not. Typically it helps if you're a lighter skinned black in America, than if you are darker. Especially if you are a woman. On the other hand check out Ryann Richardson, the winner of Miss Black America this year:
If we had a college fund that only gave white students scholarships... You know we'd be racists.
There are over 60 openly proclaimed Black Colleges in the US.
Yet if there were 'White colleges', that would be a racist college.I believe I've already explained the reason for the United Negro College Fund. I know there's this belief that if you are black you can basically go to college for free--and frankly, I think that's a wonderful idea. It just doesn't happen to be true. The openly proclaimed black colleges--technically they are called Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU's) are open to anyone. Here's a handy guide for what a white student can expect at an HBCU. They seem very welcoming! On the other hand almost every one of our non-HBCU colleges and universities were at one time only open to white people (and in some cases only white men--thus the existence of all-female universities like Smith and Wellesley. ). The first college in the United States to admit a black person was Oberlin College in 1837, 201 years after the founding of the first American college, Harvard University. You might say that there were in fact white colleges at one time and they were racist.
In the Million Man March, you believed that you were marching for your race and rights.
If we marched for our race and rights, you would call us racists.There are those among you--in the minority, I grant you--that do march for your race and for your rights. I'm sure you could join them if you are so inclined. These marches, protests, and "other activities" mainly exist to protect your racial dominance, rights, and power position from being eroded. Their stated goal is to keep America a white nation. And yes, they are racists. Because they are acting from a position of power and their goal is to prevent anyone else from sharing that power. The goal of the Million Man March and the Civil Rights Movement and the Black Live Matter movement has never been to make the United States a black nation and to make white people second class citizens in this country. The goal is equality not dominance. Is that the goal of a march for the white race and rights?
But, when a white police officer shoots a black gang member or beats up a black drug dealer running from the law and posing a threat to society, you call him a racist.The thing is that police aren't really supposed to be in the business of shooting bad guys and beating up drug dealers. We live in a nation of laws and what's supposed to happen is that when people commit crimes, even violent ones, they are supposed to be arrested, tried in a court of law and sentenced appropriately. Police sometimes have to use violence to protect themselves in the line duty, but the argument that George Floyd or Rayshard Brooks deserved to die because they were bad dudes completely upends the notion of the rule of law. And we're just talking about the presumably guilty victims. I notice you conveniently failed to mention innocent people like Breonna Taylor and Philando Castille who were also killed by law enforcement. Here's the thing: if you don't address police brutality when they come for us, eventually they will come for you too. (And for those that fuss that there are no protests when unarmed white people are killed by police and that the media doesn't cover it, there isn't a Protest Approval process. I think the biggest reason why you don't see more protests when white people are killed by the police is because by and large it seems white people don't see police brutality as a problem. If someone gets killed it's just kind of assumed they had it coming. Why would you protest? But I welcome protests on behalf of white victims. More police accountability is a win for everyone!)
I am proud of...... But you call me a racist.
Why is it that only whites can be racists??
There is nothing improper about this post.
Let's see which of you are proud enough to send it on.
I sadly don't think many will. I know it feels like you're being shamed for being white. I understand the instinct to say: "There's nothing wrong with who I am. I'm a good person. I have good values." I strongly relate to those feelings, in fact. Declaring pride in your whiteness seems like a reasonable response to that shame and guilt. While anyone can be racist, as I've quite thoroughly explained, in order to actually be racist you have to have the position of dominance. When a black person declares pride in their race, it's not a declaration of dominance. It's a declaration of love. A declaration that we love our selves rather than hating ourselves as we have been taught. It's a declaration that we are worthy of love. It is an inclusive declaration that says I too, am a man. Is that what white pride declares? Because it's funny, all the white pride declarations I've seen seem to be very hateful. When was the last time you saw a white pride protester protecting a black counter protester from his fellows because "hey guys, that's not what we are about." I know you're saddened that not many will send your post on. But frankly, I'm relieved.
That's why we have LOST most of OUR RIGHTS in this country.When you've been in power, having to share that power does feel like you're losing your rights, I'll grant you that. More on that in an upcoming post.
Im gonna be proud to be me regardless of my skin color. I don't have any problem with that sentiment.
If this is your experience when you go into any store in America than maybe there's room for white pride.
Free at last, they took your life
They could not take your pride
--U2, "Pride (In the Name of Love)"
No comments:
Post a Comment