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June 23 - September 9, 2020
avoiding this discomfort, the racist status quo is protected.
White supremacy is arguably the most complex social system of the last several hundred years. If only the answer was to be nice and keep smiling! But, of course, there are no easy answers for ending white supremacy.
White supremacy is far from fringe. In white-centered societies and communities, it is the dominant paradigm that forms the foundation from which norms, rules, and laws are created.
White supremacy is an ideology, a paradigm, an institutional system, and a worldview that you have been born into by virtue of your white privilege. I am not talking about the physical color of your skin being inherently bad or something to feel shame about. I am talking about the historic and modern legislating, societal conditioning, and systemic institutionalizing of the construction of whiteness as inherently superior to people of other races.
Whether or not you have known it, it is a system that has granted you unearned privileges, protection, and power.
It is also important to know that this work will bring up some challenging feelings around your internalized oppression against yourself and your marginalized identities and about how you have also been oppressed by a system that only benefits you to the extent that you are able to present or pass as white and be anti-Black.
I have come to see white privilege as an invisible package of unearned assets that I can count on cashing in each day, but about which I was “meant” to remain oblivious. White privilege is like an invisible weightless knapsack of special provisions, assurances, tools, maps, guides, codebooks, passports, visas, clothes, compass, emergency gear, and blank checks.2
This desire to be seen as good, by yourself and by others, prevents you from looking at the ways you unknowingly participate in and are a part of white supremacy because of your white privilege. Your desire to be seen as good can actually prevent you from doing good, because if you do not see yourself as part of the problem, you cannot be part of the solution.
The focus becomes to defend the self (and really, one’s white privilege and white supremacy as a whole) rather than opening yourself up to an experience of becoming consciously aware of what your privilege has protected you from.
I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen’s Council-er or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to “order” than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: “I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action”; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man’s freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of
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Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.
If you do not do the work, you will continue to do harm, even if that is not your intention.
Today, notice how color blindness shifts the burden of addressing the consequences of racism onto BIPOC by asking them to stop talking about racism and just work harder and be more like white people.
When you say “I don’t see color” to a BIPOC, you are saying “Who you are does not matter, and I do not see you for who you are. I am choosing to minimize and erase the impact of your skin color, your hair pattern, your accent or other languages, your cultural practices, and your spiritual traditions as a BIPOC existing within white supremacy.”
color blindness is an act of gaslighting. It is a cruel way of making BIPOC believe that they are just imagining they are being treated the way they are being treated because of their skin color, thus keeping them in a position of destabilization and inferiority.
The argument of “that stuff was in the past” attempts to create a fictional postracial present that does not reflect our current reality.
Often times, what you describe as cultural appreciation is a form of tokenizing and exoticizing while continuing to discard and dehumanize the actual people of that culture.
Often times, the cultural elements that are appropriated are stripped of their original cultural context, meaning, and significance and used in such a way as to serve or pleasure whiteness.
Allyship is not an identity—it is a lifelong process of building relationships based on trust, consistency, and accountability with marginalized individuals and/or groups. Allyship is not self-defined—our work and our efforts must be recognized by the people we seek to ally ourselves with.”32
allyship is not an identity but a practice.
“white is not seen as a race, nobody ever questions when white writers will write outside of whiteness.”
This is an example of white centering—the idea that when a creation features mainly white people, it is for everyone, but if it features mainly BIPOC, it is only relevant to BIPOC.
The response of #AllLivesMatter or #BlueLivesMatter to #BlackLivesMatter, not understanding that the social justice movement would not have to exist if all lives were treated as if they mattered equally.
White centering is so normal that it barely registers as something that needs to be interrupted or disrupted, and that is exactly what makes it such a dangerous part of white supremacy.
“The norm is white, apparently, in the view of people who see things in that way. For them, the only reason you would introduce a black character is to introduce this kind of abnormality. Usually, it’s because you’re telling a story about racism or at least race.” —OCTAVIA BUTLER
Jumping into activism without doing any real self-reflection work on your personal racism.
Reposting antiracism posts and virtue signaling so that everyone knows you’re an ally but not doing much more work beyond that.
defines allyship as: •Taking on the struggle as your own •Standing up, even when you feel scared •Transferring the benefits of your privilege to those who lack it •Acknowledging that while you, too, feel pain, the conversation is not about you
“Call-out culture refers to the tendency among progressives, radicals, activists, and community organizers to publicly name instances or patterns of oppressive behavior and language use by others…calling in means speaking privately with an individual who has done some wrong, in order to address the behavior without making a spectacle of the address itself.”42
Here are a few examples of reactions to being called out or called in: •Becoming defensive, derailing, crying, falling silent, or dramatically leaving the space or conversation. •Focusing on intent while ignoring or minimizing impact. •Tone policing BIPOC by claiming you are being attacked or characterizing the person(s) calling you out as aggressive and irrational. •Denying that your actions were racist because you “do not see color” (color blindness). •Tokenizing BIPOC to prove you are not racist or talking about all the good things you have done for BIPOC (proving that these acts were
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“Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.”43
Taking responsibility for your own antiracist education with the free and paid resources already publicly available, instead of expecting BIPOC to do that work for you.
Talking to your friends and family members who have white privilege about practicing antiracism.
Amplifying BIPOC voices (whether or not their work is about racism and social justice).
Calling out/in leaders, organizations, and institutions that are discriminating against and doing harm to BIPOC.
Continuing to show up, even when you are called out, you feel discomfort or fatigue, or you are not rewarded for it (socially or financially).
Taking up less space
Risking relationships and comfort by speaking up instead of staying silent.
