Exceptional White People
I spent a significant portion of this morning trying to find easy access to a copy of A Dialogue: James Baldwin, Nikki Giovanni. I'd read it a couple summers ago for a paper I was writing on Nikki Giovanni's many versions of "Ego Tripping." It's not a book, really, but the transcript of a conversation the two had for an episode of Soul! which showcases Nikki Giovanni's capacity as a social critic in a way that her poetry doesn't always. (Her lack of appreciation in critical circles is an interesting conversation to be had another time.) Anyhow, I was looking for a quote, and found one in my notes, but don't think it's quite the one I was looking for: "I look at exceptional white people as exceptional and she [Margaret Walker?] wants to look at exceptional white people as the rule." NG
As #stopblamingwhitewomenweneedunity started trending in response to this article right about the time I'd begun participating in Suey Park's conversation through #blackpoweryellowperil / #blackpowerliberasian was disappointing and, for good reason, pissed a lot of people off. I was one such person, for that matter. I'd already been pissed off--I was one of those angry women of color that rejected Lily Allen's anthem because it seemed to me to be objectifying and critiquing black women (and sent a long, but somewhat generous email in defense of this position to a friend--who happens to be a white feminist); I was annoyed by discussions of whether or not Beyonce was feminist or not--to the point of dismissing the delight of one of my favorite activist students who was excited by the fact that her facebook friends from the Student Diversity Leadership Conference she'd attended were actually having that conversation. (Aside: it makes me sad that that's enough to get us excited, that we're having a conversation. I'm a little tired of low expectations, which sometimes makes it hard to get excited about "progress," which makes me seem ceaselessly negative, unable to see the good.)Â
A friend of mine on Facebook noted that she felt sad for the white feminists who aren't abusing their privilege, who are standing in solidarity, who are also calling out our sisters who are supporting systems of oppression. I feel sorry for them too. And I don't want to perpetuate that cycle, and I know it's what makes my mother most upset when we talk about race. She feels like we're blaming white people. And I think that's the problem: we're not blaming white feminists -- we're holding them accountable. If there were not specific, tangible evidence of white feminists (yes, that's who's doing it -- and it hurts more when your community hurts you than when outsiders do) actively reifying systemic oppression we wouldn't need to call them out. To say that "white feminists" are doing something is not to say that ALL white feminists are engaging in this practice, but a generalization, meant to encourage white feminists to check themselves and make sure that they too aren't participating it. The danger, I think, in giving space for the exceptional white person is that it allows everyone the option of believing that he or she is the exception, thereby removing their requisite self examination. We must all, constantly, vigilantly, self-police. It is not fun. It does not feel good. Sometimes we emerge proud; sometimes we emerge ashamed. But being defensive, seeking to avoid blame isn't permitting progress. We fiercely hold onto our privileges, every single one of us, usually at the expense of others. It takes active work not to. If you think you can passively avoid this; you're wrong. Being a part of a population characterized in a general way never feels good. Especially if you don't think the generalization characterizes you. But the solution is not to remind everyone that there are exceptions, that you are one such exception; the necessary work is to feel empowered knowing that communities you belong to (by choice or no) have work to do, and look forward to helping the rest of your community participate in work you're already doing. We're always going to have more work to do; resisting the idea that work needs to be done makes more work, creates more obstacles, is the kind of bullshit that anyone who holds racist views but refuses to believe that racism exists pulls. Let's not be like that. We're better than that. So much better than that.
