Wild seeing grown ass "leftist" adults making the arguments about white privilege I did as a conservative 15 year old in 2006.
Like, look -- it does suck to have to acknowledge that like, sorry but as much as you try to be anti-racism, you were still raised in an environment of white supremacy and you're gonna have racist thoughts and feelings and if you pride yourself as being anti-racism I think you've gotta like... Be able to admit it when you've done or said something racist.
It *sucks* to acknowledge that you might have harmful beliefs and have done hurtful things without ever realizing it or meaning to but like
you know what I bet sucks more?
Not being fucking white. Having to worry about your friends being racist towards you and then sweeping it under the rug or making you feel like shit for bringing it up (or not feeling safe to do so!)
And it's like what the fuck are all these white trans people DOING???? You KNOW what it feels like when someone who claims to be progressive holds regressive ideals and says something fucking transphobic as fuck and how if you've been friends for a long time or you're relying on this person for something, you might not feel able to speak up and how much it fucking HURTS when someone you TRUSTED does this shit to you. And you Also know that sometimes, that person doesn't mean that shit or identifies as a trans ally but because they were raised in transphobia soup for their entire life, they learned ideas and feelings that go against their stated ideals and morals -- because that's what society does. And that it's Important to tell that person "hey, what you said was fucking transphobic, don't do it again."
Y'all can understand that all cis people are, to some extent, transphobic. (Most trans people are also to some extent transphobic but like, trans people do not widely have positions of power in society)
But the thing is that even if you're not occupying a Position of Power that YOU consider one, you still have the social positioning of being WHITE. You can still leverage being WHITE. You're still less likely to be pulled over or arrested or fucking murdered because *you are white*.
Fucking own up to it, Jesus fucking Christ Almighty.
(note: I am not BRAGGING about being racist as a teenager. It is one of my deepest fucking regrets that I was a conservative up until my early 20s. I fucking HATE the things I said. I'm honestly fucking grateful that I was highly isolated and didn't have a large platform... I bring it up out of like, awareness that even though I've always been super empathetic and always considered myself not Racist (really outright racism always made me really uncomfortable and upset but a lot of more...covert forms of racism crept into my head growing up because you know, I was a white kid with conservative Christian parents in the 2000s.) and how like.. that did not stop me from absorbing some of the social ideals I was raised in.
And I do a LOT to think about this shit so I can deconstruct the bullshit preconceptions I have about people who are different from me)
