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September 1 - September 19, 2020
Malcolm X famously called Black women the most disrespected, unprotected, and neglected people in America.
The derogatory and one-dimensional stereotyping of Black women
The underrepresentation of Black women in positions of leadership across industries and community spaces.
The underrepresentation of Black women in mainstream media as the protagonist.
The expectation for Black women to bear the weight of the emotional labor of dismantling white supremacy.
Tone policing Black women as too angry or too aggressive to be listened to or believed.
Expecting Black women to fit into very specific stereotypes and roles and then becoming confused and even angry when they do not.
“Because white men can’t police their imagination, black men are dying.” —CLAUDIA RANKINE, CITIZEN: AN AMERICAN LYRIC
Stereotyping Black men as sexually aggressive, violent, less intelligent, lazy, and criminal.
Assuming financially successful Black men are either athletes, entertainers, or drug dealers.
Desiring affinity with or approval from Black men in order to feel more “woke.”
It is easy to blame the past or the criminal justice system for these tropes, but it is important to remember that white supremacy is a system that is upheld by individuals who benefit from it. And it is up to each individual to pull out, confront, and own their part of the narrative that keeps the system running.
Anti-Blackness and the adultification of Black children results in Black children not being treated as children but rather as the adult Black people they will grow up to be in the white imagination.
A person of any race can prejudge a person of any other race based on negative racial stereotypes and other factors. Prejudice is wrong, but it is not the same as racism. Racism is the coupling of prejudice with power, where the dominant racial group (which in a white supremacist society is people with white privilege) is able to dominate over all other racial groups and negatively affect those racial groups at all levels—personally, systemically, and institutionally.
Although they are ridiculous when said out loud, racist stereotypes fester internally as subtle, dangerous, and logical-seeming reasons that explain why racism is justified.
In her book So You Want to Talk about Race, author Ijeoma Oluo broadly defines cultural appropriation as “the adoption or exploitation of another culture by a more dominant culture.”
Often, the appropriation is accompanied by an erasure of the nondominant culture’s origin story of that practice, while the dominant culture is able to profit—whether financially or socially—by the act of appropriation.
Cultural appropriation upholds the white supremacist ideology that white people can take what they pick and choose from Black and Brown people without consequence and that when a person with white privilege adopts something from a Black or Brown culture, they are somehow enhanced because they have adopted something “exotic.” Cultural appropriation is collecting the parts of Blackness and Brownness that appeal to whiteness while discarding actual Black and Brown people.
They define allyship as “an active, consistent, and challenging practice of unlearning and reevaluating, in which a person of privilege seeks to work in solidarity with a marginalized group. 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.”
person with white privilege does not get to be the judge of whether what they are practicing actually is allyship, because what they might deem to be allyship could actually be white centering, tokenism, white saviorism, or optical allyship instead.
“Our humanity is worth a little discomfort, it’s actually worth a lot of discomfort.”
White apathy arises as a self-preservation response to protect yourself from having to face your complicity in the oppression that is white supremacy.
White apathy lacks aggression, but it is deadly in its passivity.
Using perfectionism to avoid doing the work and fearing using your voice or showing up for antiracism work until you know everything perfectly and can avoid being called out for making mistakes.
Feeling frustrated and uncomfortable from realizing that there are no easy or safe solutions in this work.
Using the excuse that because the process of dismantling white supremacy is so overwhelming, with many parts out of your individual control, there is no point in even trying because it will not make an impact big enough to matter anyway.
It made me realize how white is seen as “normal” and nonwhite is seen as “other.”
White centering is a natural consequence of white supremacy. If you unconsciously believe you are superior, then you will unconsciously believe that your worldview is the one that is superior, normal, right, and that it deserves to be at the center.
White supremacy makes people with white privilege fear their whiteness being decentered because they have been taught to believe that if they are not centered, then they are being marginalized and oppressed.
Decentering whiteness means learning to stop upholding whiteness as the norm and instead learning to live and operate in a more inclusive way.
“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
“Funny. Slave masters thought they were making a difference in black people’s lives too. Saving them from their ‘wild African ways.’ Same shit, different century. I wish people like them would stop thinking that people like me need saving.” —ANGIE THOMAS, THE HATE U GIVE
In more subtle ways, white saviorism is the person with white privilege speaking over or for BIPOC in the belief that they know better how to say what needs to be said.
Missionary and voluntourism trips to BIPOC countries with the intention to do good but little preparation on how to serve instead of lead.
White savior hero narratives in movies, television, and fictional stories.
Feeling the urge to step in and speak on behalf of BIPOC’s needs rather than leaving them with the agency to speak for themselves.
The centering of white narratives on BIPOC liberation, such as the belief that nonwhite Muslim women who freely choose to wear the hijab need to be freed from their so-called oppression by ditching the hijab and embracing Western white feminism.
People with white privilege treating BIPOC and the issues of discrimination they are facing as pet projects to assuage white guilt and center themselves as the hero.
White saviorism puts BIPOC in the patronizing position of helpless children who need people with white privilege to save them.
White saviorism is condescending and an attempt to assuage one’s own white guilt. It may look like an attempt to make things right, but it only serves to empower people with white privilege by making them feel better about themselves.
“Racism should never have happened and so you don’t get a cookie for reducing it.” —CHIMAMANDA NGOZI ADICHIE, AMERICANAH
The intention behind the act of allyship is to avoid being called racist and/or to receive a reward through social recognition, praise, and acknowledgment.
The act of allyship creates the look of diversity and inclusion but does not come with any change at a deeper level through policy change, commitment to antiracism education, transfer of benefits or privilege, etc. The act of allyship is symbolic but not substantive.
The act of allyship involves no real risk. It is one that is performed from the safety of one’s comfort zone of privilege.
Reposting antiracism posts and virtue signaling so that everyone knows you’re an ally
Distancing yourself from your own white supremacy by continuously complaining about how awful other white people are.
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
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.”
But because there is such a focus on being perfect and doing antiracism perfectly and on being seen as good person, people with white privilege often cause more harm when being called out/in because their white fragility causes them not to receive the feedback necessary to listen, apologize, and do better going forward.
