General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Tim Wise: Race-Talk is a Language White Folks Need to Learn [View all]TigressDem
(5,125 posts)Skipped right past the part about define the problem and look for solutions.
AND
People DO NOT DO things based on the color of their skin. We learn these behaviors. That means there is hope. What we learn we can unlearn and learn to do new things that work better.
All people do stupid stuff. White people are socialized to perpetuate systemic racism. But we aren't born racist.
Just like black people have been stuffed into the margins of society by a rigged system without access to equal treatment under the law. But they are not born to behave as criminals.
So if you say instead, this is a way that white people are affected by the system and have to resist the status quo to make racial justice a reality; that is defining the problem and looking for solutions.
WHAT I SAID ABOUT LABELING is that even if it happens, it happens.
White people get shot and pepper sprayed and hanged for standing up for black rights. The EXISTENCE of White Supremacy is NO REAL BENEFIT TO ANY ONE. It's existence is a horrific reality that needs to be eradicated.
YES. I can be a less obvious target, because I am white until I open my mouth. BUT IS THAT ANY WAY TO LIVE?
While it is true, I am not constantly living with whites behaving racist toward me, until I stand up for someone and I don't get stopped for DWB (Driving While Black) or shot for being black in the vicinity of a crime. I DON'T SUFFER from the effects of White Supremacy because I am white, but I do not have all these "benefits" of being white that some do.
YOU haven't LIVED my life, so you telling ME that I have benefited from "white supremacy" is a stretch. You don't know a thing about me, but you judge and THAT is what is wrong and has to change.
That's like a white person saying blacks benefit from abusing welfare. PURE BULL SHIT.
WE DON'T HAVE TIME to argue with our allies like this.
WE NEED TO FIND WAYS TO BRIDGE OUR DIFFERENCES, NOT KEEP PUTTING POINTY verbal STICKS INTO EACH OTHER.
TELL ME what parts of White Supremacy benefits "all whites".
It isn't like we all have shares in some stock that pays dividends.
IT IS TRUE we did not suffer the effects of red lining or the same kind of discrimination in the workplace simply based on skin color. So I believe in and support the programs that seek to bring balance to those long standing issues.
What you do NOT understand is that White Supremacists have BETRAYED ALL WHITE PEOPLE as well as ALL PEOPLE OF COLOR.
They have dragged US down by association and EVERYONE who participates in racism is more aligned with the REICH WING than those who refuse to participate in racist behaviors and work to see the world change for the better.
On any day it could be any of us. There are so many hidden and subtle forms of racism. Any of us can get caught up in it.
No one is perfect.