This group is supposed to be a safe haven for black voices. So, I'm posting this here... [View all]

[MrScorpio]

Now, this is not to say that I'm promoting myself as some expert on the subject of race, despite what our right wing stalker friends may think of me, I do however have a voice and a black one at that.

I don't know if you've noticed my absence in some of the more active GD threads recently discussing race. I've read through some and felt that jumping into them would take away more time from my day than I can afford, given the fact that I have other things to do.

But moreover, it's quite clear that a significant portion of the members are neither capable or willing to have a detached, knowledgeable and self-examined discussion about how American white supremacy affects all of us in this country.

It starts with a complete unwillingness to listen to black voices without reacting as if one is being attacked. Much of dealing with that reaction serves to hijack conversations and turn them into huge messes. No one wants to be blamed for racism, even if they're a person who has spent their entire life deriving the benefits inherent in white supremacy and have done so without any tacit consent. They didn't ask to be born white in a white supremacist country, however, it does help a lot if they take the time and effort to become aware of how the world works. The inability to understand the pain rendered in black voices is quite troublesome indeed, when that inability is seen in those who profess to be the allies of black people.

Even in this supposed struggle together against racism, it's white supremacy that serves to divide us. Because it is white supremacy that impels its beneficiaries to believe that they are the sole arbiters and creators of definitions about race. Of course, when someone gets to call the shots, then they will invariably do so in ways to derive an advantage. Racism and race themselves are artificial constructs made to facilitate white supremacy. So even within the realm of these discussions over race, many of them start off wrong.

I could go on, but I'm sure that you get the gist of my point here.

I must say, though, that as the political season advances and if it becomes likely that Hillary will be our nominee, I'm quite sure that the question of her feminist credentials may come up regarding the subject of Intersectionality. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intersectionality I figure that those discussions won't be pretty at all.

If there's any a place on the net which is both ill-equipped to have good discussions about race, class and gender AND is an appropriate place to have them, it's DU. The reason it seems, as has been shown in the recent discussions about race alone, is that DU generally and GD specifically serves as bad examples.

I'm quite sure that others have pointed this out and also have reasons why that's the case. For example, DU must have been invaded by right wing trolls. Unfortunately, the problem is much more basic than that: It's the pathological inability to cope with being born in a white supremacist culture. As the holders and users of black voices, we really have no power over white supremacy, other than speaking out against it. That powerless doesn't flow in one direction when it comes to systemic and institutional white supremacy, white people are affected in much the same way.

There is, however an individual component to white supremacy that even its beneficiaries do have some control over. And that is how much the individual chooses to become self-aware, how much they choose to forego feelings of guilt and blame even in the face of the angriest of black voices. There's the phrase that one should strive to check ones privilege. To me that means that the person holding inherent privilege in any given situation should take a moment to realize how they sound to a person who does not have privilege. In myself, as a straight male, that would mean that I would have to check my own privilege while listening to the voices of others who are not straight males. I'm not saying that I've been perfect in every case, however I have chosen to gain from the experience.

The main problem with white privilege, or any other system of privilege, is that it inhibits the holder from automatically improving themselves as an individual. Privilege is the promotion of inherent mediocrity for arbitrary reasons. I don't know why more people can't understand that. But when blindness becomes a choice, it can create unwilling combatants between natural allies and unnatural battlegrounds of places that should be safe havens.

Anyway, before I disappeared again I just wanted to relay my observations.

So, take care of each other. Who else do you have to try and depend on?