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Listen I’m drunk but I’ve been conversing w my [equally drunk] man and he snapped his fingers when I said this so I’m gonna share it here, too:
You ready?
You ready?
Racism has undergone a SERIOUS but subtle plastic surgery over the years...
Today it has formed to this: the WORST thing a non-white person can do is call out racist behavior, whether in individual behavior, racist systems, or even racist history.
(Cont..)
Today it has formed to this: the WORST thing a non-white person can do is call out racist behavior, whether in individual behavior, racist systems, or even racist history.
(Cont..)
During the civil rights movement, white supremacy knew as a system that it had two options: 1 either disappear, or 2 get a makeover. Obvs it chose the latter.
Since then, it has reshaped & reformed itself but has NEVER decreased it’s poisonous presence in the US
(Cont...)
Since then, it has reshaped & reformed itself but has NEVER decreased it’s poisonous presence in the US
(Cont...)
Back in the day, white supremacy was lazily explicit: it existed blatantly in the laws, in media, in culture, in church, & in common social practice.
But TODAY it has disguised itself. Rather than draw a clear line between where black/IPOC folks could cross, it has now (cont..)
But TODAY it has disguised itself. Rather than draw a clear line between where black/IPOC folks could cross, it has now (cont..)
It has now allowed the disguise of “integration” (think: the sudden shift between our white ancestors never touching the same water fountain as a black American to suddenly seeing them integrated in media under the total guise of a ‘cultural transformation.’)
For most white millennials(ish), explicitly racist jokes/beliefs have been extremely frowned apon. For us more left-leaning whites, this has dangerously suggested to us that there are 2 types of white ppl: those conservatives over there, and us who are pretty decent & non-racist
That’s why no one should ever be convinced that even the most progressive/left-leaning/loving white person is a non-racist, or even anti-racist, ally until they’ve experienced that soul-crushing experience where they recognize they’ve been spoon-fed racism since birth.
(Cont..)
(Cont..)
ALL WHITE PPL IN THE US have been fed a very consistent and steady diet of racism since we were infants.
My husband, who is black, remembers the exact moment at age 5 where his mom sat him down & talked to him about race/police violence/and the many dangers of being a black boy
My husband, who is black, remembers the exact moment at age 5 where his mom sat him down & talked to him about race/police violence/and the many dangers of being a black boy
But to other white ppl, can you even recall such a conversation, even from the opposite side?
Most of us learned about history in textbooks, through stories or documentaries/historical accounts.
In many ways it is solely abstract to us. It is happening to “them” and “there”
Most of us learned about history in textbooks, through stories or documentaries/historical accounts.
In many ways it is solely abstract to us. It is happening to “them” and “there”
...not by “us” and “here.”
I did not even realize I had racism in me until I was in my college, when I decidedly looked for it (after reading works of great US black writers).
I quickly realized the childhood furniture, and even foundation, of my childhood psyche was RACIST.
I did not even realize I had racism in me until I was in my college, when I decidedly looked for it (after reading works of great US black writers).
I quickly realized the childhood furniture, and even foundation, of my childhood psyche was RACIST.
As I was religious at the time, this drove me to the ground, begging god’s forgiveness, feeling wretched, repentant, and completely undone.
I arose from the floor with a determination to reject everything I’d been given as a white woman. I did not deserve ANY of it.
I arose from the floor with a determination to reject everything I’d been given as a white woman. I did not deserve ANY of it.
However, I’m so grateful that I had that moment—wretched as it was. I went from thinking I was a good & decent human (comparing myself, of course, to the pointed white hoods of my ancestors) to acknowledging that I had Soo much to unlearn, to rebuke, to reject, & then re-learn.
But this leads to my final tipsy point:
when we white, & even other non-black ppl, begin our journey to reject white supremacy & re-learn everything, we absolutely MUST seek BLACK voices, BLACK writers, BLACK activists, & BLACK teachers. We can’t teach ourselves.
(K I’m done)
when we white, & even other non-black ppl, begin our journey to reject white supremacy & re-learn everything, we absolutely MUST seek BLACK voices, BLACK writers, BLACK activists, & BLACK teachers. We can’t teach ourselves.
(K I’m done)
