I& #39;m increasingly unsure to what degree whiteness can actually interface with the world outside it. I feel like part of its pathology is that it& #39;s a maze of mirrors; the outside isn& #39;t & #39;processed& #39; so much as inverted and repurposed into reflective surfaces for the self

like even when whiteness attempts to be empathetic I feel like it often slides into an overemotionality that& #39;s not about humanizing the Other so much as superhumanizing itself for having feelings

for me, the paradox of whiteness comes back to the central political question of my life: how do we practice letting go of a pathological relation to power? what would such a practice look like, and is it possible to keep it from being used to reconstitute the power relation?

side note — @debeccle and @saintfatigue have both pointed me to saidiya hartman& #39;s & #39;scenes of subjection& #39; (1997), which includes theorization about white people& #39;s projections onto black people and black suffering. this paragraph feels pertinent — bolding added for emphasis