I thought I had completed this series and then someone assured me that he was entirely without prejudice or ~ism. He insisted that he had not a racist bone blah blah blah. Naturally, I was compelled to put a few thoughts together.
When you claim that there's not a racist bone in your body I don't believe you. For a couple of reasons. First, as my brosin (brother/cousin) says that ain't where racism lies, but carry on. Second, if you were born and raised on this planet where anti-Blackness, anti-Brownness is a thing, and you have zero prejudice you must be Jesus. For a statement like "I don't have a racist bone in my body" or better yet, this
to be true, here's what else would also need to be true 100% of the time:
I have never clutched my bag in an elevator full of Black men;
I have never argued that #BlackLivesMatter means anything other than Black Lives Matter too;
I have never responded to the above with #AllLivesMatter;
I have never used the phrase "Black on Black crime" in a discussion about police violence against people of color;
I have never argued against reparations. I understand the broad theft of land, liberty, and life that has been heaped (and continues to be heaped) upon people of African heritage and would fight for their right to be made whole;
I believe that the South African government has the right of it. Boers, who first stole the land, must now relinquish the land they stole;
I have never wondered why there's a Black History month or when we'll be getting a White History month;
I acknowledge that there is nothing valorous about the confederacy and I repudiate all attempts to valorize treason;
I routinely push back against racist tropes in the media and in conversations both personal and professional;
I have no trouble expending energy and social capital teaching people the back stories to today's realities, from poverty rates to literacy rates, healthcare outcomes, the wealth gap, and everything in between.
So to you who claim no racist bones, I ask you, are you there? Can you say these things and more? Can you reflexively argue in support of POC? If not, spare me with the "I don't have a racist bone" foolishness. The reality is that if you were born and raised in the toxic soup of anti-Blackness in which we are ALL born and raised, the likelihood that you are sans ~ism is slim to zero. And slim's been dead a while.
Here's the truth: you can believe all these things most of the time and still harbor racist feelings and beliefs. The simple and inevitable consequence of being raised in an anti-Black society is that you will hold at least some of the ugly views of the world around you. To deny that truth is to lie to yourself and to be a stumbling block in the advance of truth and a shared, more equal, future. And if you only manage to believe these things of Black people you already know and like? Yeah, you got a long way to go. Call me when you can believe these things about the most wretched Black person, a violent criminal locked up for life for unspeakable crimes. Because even they are covered under this list. Even that person deserves due consideration.........and yes, reparations.
Lying to yourself is fine I suppose, but please don't expect me to believe the lies with which you comfort yourself, or to applaud your wonderful non-racist bona fides. That ain't happenin' cuz you ain't got none.
If you tell me that you're working hard on reducing your prejudice and not acting out in racist ways, that I can believe. But the there of having arrived at a place of being non-racist, non-prejudiced? There's no there there. That place exists as much as this guy does.
When you claim that there's not a racist bone in your body I don't believe you. For a couple of reasons. First, as my brosin (brother/cousin) says that ain't where racism lies, but carry on. Second, if you were born and raised on this planet where anti-Blackness, anti-Brownness is a thing, and you have zero prejudice you must be Jesus. For a statement like "I don't have a racist bone in my body" or better yet, this
to be true, here's what else would also need to be true 100% of the time:
I have never clutched my bag in an elevator full of Black men;
I have never argued that #BlackLivesMatter means anything other than Black Lives Matter too;
I have never responded to the above with #AllLivesMatter;
I have never used the phrase "Black on Black crime" in a discussion about police violence against people of color;
I have never argued against reparations. I understand the broad theft of land, liberty, and life that has been heaped (and continues to be heaped) upon people of African heritage and would fight for their right to be made whole;
I believe that the South African government has the right of it. Boers, who first stole the land, must now relinquish the land they stole;
I have never wondered why there's a Black History month or when we'll be getting a White History month;
I acknowledge that there is nothing valorous about the confederacy and I repudiate all attempts to valorize treason;
I routinely push back against racist tropes in the media and in conversations both personal and professional;
I have no trouble expending energy and social capital teaching people the back stories to today's realities, from poverty rates to literacy rates, healthcare outcomes, the wealth gap, and everything in between.
So to you who claim no racist bones, I ask you, are you there? Can you say these things and more? Can you reflexively argue in support of POC? If not, spare me with the "I don't have a racist bone" foolishness. The reality is that if you were born and raised in the toxic soup of anti-Blackness in which we are ALL born and raised, the likelihood that you are sans ~ism is slim to zero. And slim's been dead a while.
Here's the truth: you can believe all these things most of the time and still harbor racist feelings and beliefs. The simple and inevitable consequence of being raised in an anti-Black society is that you will hold at least some of the ugly views of the world around you. To deny that truth is to lie to yourself and to be a stumbling block in the advance of truth and a shared, more equal, future. And if you only manage to believe these things of Black people you already know and like? Yeah, you got a long way to go. Call me when you can believe these things about the most wretched Black person, a violent criminal locked up for life for unspeakable crimes. Because even they are covered under this list. Even that person deserves due consideration.........and yes, reparations.
Lying to yourself is fine I suppose, but please don't expect me to believe the lies with which you comfort yourself, or to applaud your wonderful non-racist bona fides. That ain't happenin' cuz you ain't got none.
If you tell me that you're working hard on reducing your prejudice and not acting out in racist ways, that I can believe. But the there of having arrived at a place of being non-racist, non-prejudiced? There's no there there. That place exists as much as this guy does.
Carry on.
