Ferguson. New York. Cleveland.
And literally everywhere else in this country.
I'm white. Born and raised in the Detroit area. And I'd like to think I understand. But I pay enough attention to know that I never really will. No matter how outraged I am by this, all of this, every possible aspect of this, I have never and will never actually have to live it. My entire life will always be totally free of this fear, this terrifying aspect of reality. This entire thing is a level of insanity and injustice I can't truly imagine, even right now while looking directly at it. Because the entire system of this country is built for me, starting from a place where I'm above the rest. All of it benefits me; even those laws and policies that put certain other whites above me still put people of color below me.
To paraphrase one of the many statements being made on social media these last weeks, white privilege is me being outraged, being angered, by the Ferguson decision, by the Eric Garner decision, by the Tamir Rice shooting, without having to be utterly terrified.
I don't have to feel any of this at all, not the way so many others do. I never, ever have to feel this, and I will not pretend I do. What I do understand is that everything about this is wrong. And changing the fact that racism and white supremacy are built in to our entire culture may be something that's difficult, something that will take time, and something that's going to make white people uncomfortable in a lot of ways. But it needs to start happening and it needs to start happening now. We shouldn't need more examples, we shouldn't need one of the many protests to turn violent.* This entire country was founded on a violent and destructive revolution. We're supposed to be a more civilized sort of human race now, aren't we? So why can't these changes start because white people recognize such a clear case of right and wrong?
*I want to be clear that I don't mean this as one of the many "hey now don't get violent no need for that you protestors" statements. The people out there protesting are being forced to fight for their right to live, for their right to simply be recognized as human. And they are being met with force, and threats, and unjust arrests at every turn. They are being antagonized in every possible way by police forces that, it seems, want them to respond with violence. And not that my approval is necessary, but if any of these people find themselves in a position where they feel a violent response has become necessary? Well, we all do what we have to do for our own fights. God bless them. But it shouldn't fucking take that, should it
Anyway. I don't want to spend too much time spouting my view. I saw quite a few signs tonight reading "White silence = White consent" and in that case, I felt I absolutely should not be silent-hence my 2 a.m. ramblings. But I won't be writing a bunch of posts from my point of view on this either. I will be listening to the people this affects, signal boosting the words and works of the people who belong in the driver's seat on this, and I will spend my time doing what I'm told I can do to help. Thanks for reading, I'd encourage you to do the same.
For whatever little it may be worth, I'm sorry.
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Edited to add The Daily Show intro from 12/3/14 after seeing it and thinking it kind of fit a bit of what I was saying/feeling.
I'm really glad you posted this because you were able to encapsulate a lot of the things I have been struggling with while watching these injustices play out. I think we absolutely shouldn't be silent but our roll in this needs to be one of support and sometimes increasing exposure doesn't feel like enough.
ReplyDeleteI am rambling right now. My heart breaks for the brown, garner and rice families, as well as all the unnamed households who are missing members this holiday season due to prejudice and brutality.
I do really appreciate all of your retweets, though. My friends twitter list turns into this bevy of information and it's so much easier to sort through than tumblr.