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Thoughts about my legacy as a white person
(I am not doing this for pity. I simply wish to acknowledge particular realities for white people and the ways that that can affect us. I hope that this discussion can help us learn to combat the right-wing more effectively)
thread
(I am not doing this for pity. I simply wish to acknowledge particular realities for white people and the ways that that can affect us. I hope that this discussion can help us learn to combat the right-wing more effectively)
thread
Thesis: White people do in fact have some stuff to deal with that kinda sucks and while it is entirely insignificant compared to literally anyone else, it does exist. And understanding that stuff can help us learn what drives white people and why they behave the way they do.
I'll also be the first to acknowledge that POC voices on this matter are infinitely more valuable than my own. I do not want to fall into the trap of thinking that my own perspective or the perspective of any other white person should drive any theory, philosophy, or movement
SO. With that acknowledged, I would like to offer my experience as a jumping off point for further discussion about why white people do things like deny the existence of racism or whine about "why can't I be proud of MY race?" etc
I am an american, and... german? A little? I think? Somewhere back in my family tree there were some germans? Probably? Ultimately I'm just kind of a mish mash of various folks from various european countries that we all now consider "white"
This leaves me without any particular cultural legacy. Not only am I like, 10% from every western european country and thus not really from any of them, but I've never known anyone in my family who even knew anyone from any of those countries.
Again, do not pity me for this. The only reason I'm in this situation is because of colonialism, imperialism, white supremacy, and a whole host of other nonsense that basically fucked the whole rest of the world.
For instance, I can't even imagine what it would be like to be black in the US and have to deal with the same situation but SO SO MUCH WORSE
Nonetheless I find myself here. No real european cultural legacy. Now maybe I could be an american? Is that my legacy? Well... sorta.
First of all I happen to know that at least of the ancestors that I know of, they came over to america about 100 years ago. Not really all that long in cultural terms. So I don't exactly feel a super strong connection there.
So I have these half-assed connections to vaguely western europe and vaguely... the US? Where does that leave me? Kinda nowhere to be honest. It feels limp. I am not the proud bearer of a thousand year old legacy of warriors or anything like that
All I really have left from those vague, limp connections is whiteness. Because that's really the thing that ties all those disparate areas together. Both the US and western europe are histories of whiteness. At least as far as our modern historical lens
And when your legacy is whiteness, not german, not french, not english, just white, that puts you in a difficult position.
As a person who wants to acknowledge the history of colonialism, imperialism, white supremacy, etc that still affects our world today, I find myself wanting to shy away from that legacy of whiteness. Because there really isn't anything positive about it.
The only legacy I have is one of genocide, oppression, and exploitation. And that kinda sucks!
Obviously not nearly as much as it sucks to be on the other side of any of those things. It just also sucks in its own way.
Being burdened with the guilt and shame of this vague ancestral legacy of horribleness is a non-trivial thing for somebody to come to terms with. And I think we lose ground to the right if we don't acknowledge that difficulty
I was raised catholic so I started out pretty conservative in my worldview. And as I grew and learned, I found myself agreeing more and more with left-wing thought. But it was still hard to let go of those last remnants. The core of it
For a while I started to think of "white people" as some group of people "out there". Not me. Other white people. They were the bad ones and since I was trying my best to be good, I didn't have to acknowledge the legacy of horribleness
I didn't have to accept it as my own
And to be completely honest, I don't think I fully took the step to understanding my legacy properly until I had another legacy to substitute. Or at least use as an addition
For me this was my queerness. As a member of the LGBT community I could be proud of my community's forebears as people who fought for what was right. People who struggled against impossible odds and survived anyway. Truly inspiring people
It wasn't until I had access to that history and that legacy that I was able to look my legacy of whiteness in the eye. I still don't think I've fully come to terms with it all, but that process has been started and even getting to this point was difficult
Again: not as hard as anyone of any other race. But hard in its own way nonetheless
I suspect that getting white people to acknowledge that history and embrace changing the world for the better, will go more smoothly if we offer them a new legacy to carry. A more positive or at least neutral one
Maybe we can become a part of something new and instead of guilt about the past, we turn our attention to the future and the better world that we want to help create
Maybe we can find other communities to be a part of that will support our self-image through the difficulty of that transition period wherein one must acknowledge the bad bad very bad things that all the white people of yore did to all the non-white people of yore
Maybe we can do a little digging and find some pre-horribleness european history to be proud of. Not in a fascist way but in a human way.
I for one really like the idea of being descendant from germans because their culture is the one where the brothers grimm stories happened. Like, fucked up cold forest people who tell their kids horror stories to get them to behave? That's kinda neat
(I do really want to be a fucked up forest person but in like a "lesbian cottagecore" way not a "terrorizing the youth of prussia" way)
ANYWAY. I offer these thoughts and experiences, not to garner pity, but to help us as the left understand the forces that are at play. Maybe this sheds a little light for some folks on why fascists seem to like using old european paganism and symbols and stuff? Idk tbh but maybe
Also if you've followed this all the way through to the end then please reply with your favorite POC account or youtuber etc. They deserve more followers than they currently have and their voices on issues like this really need more weight
