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I guess since I already mentioned Serwer and "the cruelty is the point" let me also point out that the common bastardization of this phrase, which omits the first "the", seems harmless, but is actually part of the problem as well
Maybe you think I'm overdoing the grammar war here but it's not that assorted, random acts of cruelty are the point; that would imply the pinpointing of individual racism as a root cause, which is not what Serwer said
Serwer was referring to "the cruelty," which is a specific indication towards what we were seeing in the moment when the piece was published: cops murdering mostly Black folks, camps at the border, the Muslim ban, I'm sure a million other things I'm forgetting
This is systemic inhumanity, not just certain people being racists. That's what "the" refers to, and also happens to explain why so many well-meaning whites leave it out, because they're still stuck in this idea that racism is mostly interpersonal
Which makes sense, because you can call yourself not-racist without doing any work, it's the anti-racism that's the thing. Anyway, don't forget that first "the," it's important
