06/04/2020
Intention is important, but having good intentions doesn't automatically mean you're doing the right thing. This has happened before. White people join a movement and it swells and gets more media coverage and starts to "trend" and we end up drowning out the BIPOC voices of the folks that created this movement, carefully crafting intentional messaging and working tirelessly at it for years. There haven't been "waves" of the Civil Rights Movement, it has been happening for hundreds of years, there's just "waves" of white people choosing to engage with it because that's a choice we have, unlike BIPOC. Please research before you post and make sure what your posting is amplifying the voices and experiences of BIPOC, do your own research about things you don't understand or that make you feel uncomfortable rather than asking BIPOC to educate you, and hold space and be there to *listen* to your BIPOC friends if they need you. On top of that, find ways to show up- donate, protest, sign petitions, volunteer using your skillsets, educate your fellow white people, and educate yourself. I’m going to share a series of resources that have helped me develop a base of understanding that moved me past feeling paralyzed by fear of saying/doing the wrong thing and my “white guilt”-because that should not even be a thing because again it is centering white people’s feelings.
Here’s a resource for if you understand the protesting, but don’t understand why there is looting or rioting:
White Rage by Carol Anderson Ph.D.
Did you know that Mississippi didn’t ratify the 13th amendment until 2013? Part of understanding racism is understanding the history and also understanding that that history is not in the distant past or “a different time.” Apparently Mississippi tried to ratify it in 1995 (also ridiculous) but failed to make it official by sending it to the US Archivist, which was later described as an “oversight.” Not banning slavery in 1995 was an “oversight.” Let’s think about that for a minute. Additionally, the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments did not have the impact we were taught in school because of laws like the Black Codes that southern states were freely allowed to pass by Lincoln and Johnson that were just slavery under a different name. We’re taught that Lincoln fought for black folks and granted them their freedom, but that’s a white savior narrative that makes us feel more comfortable about our history. In fact, Lincoln never intended to give black folks the right to vote, hold office, or marry interracially, among other basic rights. He even had a plan to send all black people to resettle in a “resource poor” area in current day Panama. I definitely missed that chapter in AP US History. Black people have been over policed in this country since slavery. It didn’t stop after the Civil War. It didn’t stop after Brown vs the Board of Education. It didn’t stop. It’s easy for white people to call rioting and looting (or kneeling, or anti-black racism specific hashtags, or superbowl halftime shows, or whatever statement infringes on our ability to stay comfortably ignorant) an overreaction when we allow ourselves to have zero context. And regarding those white supremacists who were looting or instigating violence during these important protests, they are playing into our ignorance and the deeply entrenched stereotypes we have about black people that date back to our country’s origin.
I’ve heard this book is out of stock at quite a few places. In the meantime, here is an article written by the author that also talks about the concept of White Rage. It was written in 2014 as an op-ed after the murder of Michael Brown, but it could’ve just as easily been written this week. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/ferguson-wasnt-black-rage-against-copsit-was-white-rage-against-progress/2014/08/29/3055e3f4-2d75-11e4-bb9b-997ae96fad33_story.html
The underlying anger that goes unnoticed.
