#beingwhite

This short piece from Afropunk.com is getting some play where I lurk.

I started saying 'yes' when white people ask if my posts about social justice mean I hate them 

The author just tells it like it is. This part is resonating with me:

I don’t care about parsing out which white people my answer applies to anymore. That is their job. It's up to them to figure out why Black rage at white abuses implicates them, and then to rectify it. … The only way Black hatred would not be justified would be if we were to fix five centuries of brutality and terror, and we have a long, long way to go to do that.

He gives us a time frame. Five hundred years. I’ve got five hundred years of privilege behind this little life I’m leading now.

Who gave this to me? Not anyone who cares about me individually. It was white people in positions of power throughout history who bought my cooperation with this warped system by promising me an easier life. Which I’ve received. Without ever once deserving it. Dammit!

So fellow white people, what will we do about it?

One thing we can do is to open our eyes. Open our eyes to how we are seen by those we have oppressed. Maybe I personally didn’t oppress anyone (or maybe I have?). Maybe I haven’t been abusive or violent to anyone. But they don’t know that. When they see me, they see us all.

Do we get that every time a black person is kind to us, or polite, or respectful, we don’t deserve it?

Do we get that every time a black person defers to us or lets our white nonsense stand without correcting it, we should be embarrassed by the social construct that makes them feel they have to?

Do we get that every time a black person lets us speak first, that’s our cue to shut up?

Are we starting to understand this to our bones?

We owe them. We—white people as a whole—owe the rest of the world our lives and our fortunes. We didn’t get them on our own merit or by our own efforts. We got it through violence, oppression, bigotry, and immorality. None of it is ours. We need to step back. I’m not kidding.

That election in November hit me over the head. It was bad enough that white men voted the way they did; to know that white women also voted against their own gender interests and instead supported the racist candidate was a sharp stick in the eye. Racism “trumped” feminism.

The majority of white people—my people—people like me—voted to keep other races down compared to us irrespective of what it would mean to the country or the world as a whole. This is a fact.

Statistically, therefore, it’s a rational response for black people—in fact, all people of color—to be suspicious of the whole lot of us whites. I suppose they always have been, because when were racists a minority among whites?

I’m embarrassed that this was news to me. I’m appalled it took that election for me to have my eyes opened to my own tribe and its evil streak. I’m ashamed of my complicity in this situation, how much I’ve profited from it, how much I’ve enjoyed at the expense of others. It makes me angry to feel this way. So here I am, calling it out, howling at the moon perhaps, but howling nonetheless.

White people suck. We have a history of sucking, we have a present-day reality of sucking, and there’s every sign that we’re headed into a promising future of sucking. I’d hate us, too.

What’s the answer? Dismantle the suck, white people. Seek out and support things that benefit people who are not white. Consciously act, vote, buy, read, watch, in ways that are not so selfish. Share, dammit.

It will be awkward—I know it is for me. We will get it wrong, they will shake their heads at our feeble efforts, it will all seem like a waste of time—until that one moment that I hope is not five hundred years in the future when critical mass is reached and the majority of white people are no longer assholes. When a majority of whites see themselves as just one hue of the human race, with the same value as any other.

Then it will be like the lights going up after a ridiculous movie that never made any sense and you have no idea why you sat all the way through it. And we’ll point at it together and say, “Wow, what a waste of time that was.”

Being a white, middle-class, straight girl.

I am average. I do not stand out in a crowd, in school, or in the workplace. I mentioned many “imagined communities”, but I feel that they all contribute to the “imagined community” for people that belong in the majority of many apparent aspects of life. The only aspect of my life that could make me more “average” is if I was a male.

I believe that many people can relate to this; the white, middleclass, straight community just does not stand out. Being a part of the majority of many groups in America makes us this way. We walk down the street and blend in with the crowd. Finding something about ourselves that makes us stand out can be very difficult, which makes activities like applying for college or scholarships and attending job interviews stressful. We must be creative to find some aspect of our lives that will help us stick in the minds of employers. Of course I stand out to some people, but to most strangers, there is nothing apparent about my appearance that would strike someone’s interest.

Being in the majority has many perks. For the most part, I have not faced discrimination. I have not faced bigotry firsthand, and I hope that I never do. Being in the majority can be beneficial in some settings since I will probably never walk down the street and hear hatred towards my race or sexuality. I will probably never be turned down for a job because of the color of my skin, and I will never have to fear a conversation between my friends and my parents about my sexuality. There is a lot less stress being in the majority of people, and I am thankful for that.

Although most people think of negative stereotypes affecting mostly minorities such as the LGBT community or the racial minorities, they can also affect the majority groups. There have been times where others believe that I am racist or insensitive towards minorities because I am white, but that could not be further from the truth. There have been times where the types of activities, the music I listen to, or my home environment are just assumed. The color of my skin, my sexuality, and my middleclass status has caused some to make assumptions about how I live. Although judgment is apparent for every race, class, and sexuality, I believe that some people forget that the majority groups are judged too.

Overall, I am content with being a part of the “imagined community” for the people that fit into the majority groups. It does not stand out the most, but I am sure proud of where I come from and who I am, and so should everyone else. There will always be times where who I am is an advantage or a disadvantage, but every group faces both of those too. Being a white, middle-class, straight girl may not be the most unique, but it is who I am.