If you listened to Judge TS Ellis saying of Manafort that despite copious evidence to the contrary, Manafort had led an "otherwise blameless life" you might conclude that White men can do no wrong. Even when they've obviously done (and been convicted of) wrong. Such is the power of Whiteness.
There may be some who are conflicted about whether Paulie did in fact lead a blameless life prior to his prosecution but I ain't among them. I am not conflicted or in any way confused. He's a crook. He's been a crook. He will ever be a crook. But since the concept of blamelessness is now in doubt, since we're now not sure what blamelessness looks like, lemme help you out with that. Let me offer for your consideration, some truly blameless lives....
White supremacy is a fascinating thing. The same supremacist-built justice system that calls Manafort blameless, takes seventy years to exonerate George Stinney, who was in fact without blame.
The same system that calls Manafort blameless, has yet to pour out any blame on the people who killed Terrence Crutcher; Alton Sterling, Tamir Rice and Stephon Clark.
But the justice system is just one fruit of the larger tree of White supremacy. As I see it, the tree's two contradictory roots are the intractability of supremacist thinking and the fragility of White belief in its competence. As strong as the belief in (the fallacy of) supremacy purports to be, it is clearly undermined by a lack of faith in that so-called supremacy. I guess it is as my mother always said, superiority complexes are in fact inferiority complexes trying to make themselves feel good.
Stories of White blamelessness arise out of all of this. Colonizers and their descendants have all too often avoided difficult discussions of their history of purloined wealth. They have also avoided any culpability for the state of the world's poorest nations and people. And they have continued to claim entitlement to benefits of their theft. But such hiding from the truth creates dank spaces where dangerous beliefs can fester.
In the time that it has taken me to marshal my thoughts on this question of blamelessness, yet another blameless White man has struck. And naturally there are those who fix their mouths to suggest that his actions were understandable (that's another euphemism for blameless). Even the president has suggested that White terrorists are few and far between and, of course, mentally ill (ergo, not culpable).
It is supremacy-speak 101 to claim - even as a man stands accused of unspeakable evil - that even though his actions are abominable, he is without culpability. Mental illness; understandable rage against immigrants; fear of invasion....all these are creative ways to say that he is blameless.
White criminals, whether mere fraudsters like Manafort or terrorists like the Aussie in New Zealand, are either blameless, mentally ill, or justified. Never straight up wrong or evil, because Whiteness means perpetual exculpation, even as White malefactors hold the literal smoking gun in their hands.
To be White is to have access to the "Yes, he's guilty but" form of sentencing..
There may be some who are conflicted about whether Paulie did in fact lead a blameless life prior to his prosecution but I ain't among them. I am not conflicted or in any way confused. He's a crook. He's been a crook. He will ever be a crook. But since the concept of blamelessness is now in doubt, since we're now not sure what blamelessness looks like, lemme help you out with that. Let me offer for your consideration, some truly blameless lives....
Emmett Till, 14. Fourteen. "Blamed" by a nice White lady (NWL) of sexually aggressive behavior. Kidnapped and brutalized by NWL's husband and brother. Over a lie. A lie she admitted to in 2017. She's not in jail or even threatened with jail though because she has, since this unfortunate incident, led an otherwise blameless life.
Chaney, Goodman & Schwerner, In Freedom Summer - 1964 - these three young men worked to register Black voters. While driving to Meridian, Mississippi after visiting the charred remains of a KKK-burned church, the three were arrested, held, and eventually kidnapped from jail and executed.
Trayvon Maritn, 17. Executed by a wannabe cop on the sidewalk in Sanford, FL. Because he was Black and unexpected. That's a life otherwise blameless.
Tamir Rice, 12. Murdered in 2014 by a rookie police officer who had been let go by his previous employer for being unfit for police work. Tamir, 12, playing alone with a toy gun in a park. Some Chad called in a report and the rest, as they say, is history. Tamir's life? Blameless.
Richard Collins III, college student brutally murdered while minding his own business (this is a theme with many of these murders) for the dual crimes of Blackness and not stepping out of the way of a White man/child. Life? You guessed it: blameless. The malefactor, whose life is not blameless, is awaiting trial on murder and hate crimes charges.
Aiyana Stanley-Jones, 7. She didn't have enough time on the planet to be blamed for anything. Police, executing one of their infamous "no knock" warrants, shoot her dead while asleep on her grandmother's couch. The police officer who ended her life was cleared of all charges.And there are so many others. There's Renisha McBride; Jordan Davis; John Crawford III; Terrence Crutcher; Alton Sterling; Thomas Moss, Calvin McDowell, and William "Henry" Stewart and on and on and on the list goes. The endless list proves there exists a surfeit of White supremacist-fueled entitlement and rage that can and do capriciously seek to end or constrain others' lives. It is our refusal to deal with this reality that gives supremacy cover; cover to spew its violence - physical, economic, and/or legal - upon the rest of us.
White supremacy is a fascinating thing. The same supremacist-built justice system that calls Manafort blameless, takes seventy years to exonerate George Stinney, who was in fact without blame.
The same system that calls Manafort blameless, has yet to pour out any blame on the people who killed Terrence Crutcher; Alton Sterling, Tamir Rice and Stephon Clark.
But the justice system is just one fruit of the larger tree of White supremacy. As I see it, the tree's two contradictory roots are the intractability of supremacist thinking and the fragility of White belief in its competence. As strong as the belief in (the fallacy of) supremacy purports to be, it is clearly undermined by a lack of faith in that so-called supremacy. I guess it is as my mother always said, superiority complexes are in fact inferiority complexes trying to make themselves feel good.
The tension between these opposing views must cause no end of emotional stress and in an effort to resolve this cognitive dissonance of mammoth proportion, Whiteness has become fearful of every damn thing and every-facking-one non-White.
The fear is not an unreasonable one. Having stolen from everyone, everywhere; having oppressed people everywhere; having struck out with a conquistador's zeal and created colonies everywhere, developing a fear of retributive justice was inevitable. Sensible even. The colonizer now fears colonization. How could he/she not? But rather than step back from its colonizer past, change its approach and do better, supremacy chooses to stand firm with teeth bared, ready and willing to tear what it fears to shreds. And so, here we are.
In the time that it has taken me to marshal my thoughts on this question of blamelessness, yet another blameless White man has struck. And naturally there are those who fix their mouths to suggest that his actions were understandable (that's another euphemism for blameless). Even the president has suggested that White terrorists are few and far between and, of course, mentally ill (ergo, not culpable).
It is supremacy-speak 101 to claim - even as a man stands accused of unspeakable evil - that even though his actions are abominable, he is without culpability. Mental illness; understandable rage against immigrants; fear of invasion....all these are creative ways to say that he is blameless.
White criminals, whether mere fraudsters like Manafort or terrorists like the Aussie in New Zealand, are either blameless, mentally ill, or justified. Never straight up wrong or evil, because Whiteness means perpetual exculpation, even as White malefactors hold the literal smoking gun in their hands.
To be White is to have access to the "Yes, he's guilty but" form of sentencing..
*This option only available in the US. New Zealand looks poised to do different. Thank heaven.
To be White is to be innocent even when proven guilty.
To be White is to be innocent even when proven guilty.
To be White is to be entitled to everything good in the world even when you bring the bad to others.
To be White is to be held to a different standard or to no standard at all.
To be White is to be blame retardant, Teflon and to be blameless is to learn nothing from your punishment and to teach others nothing by your punishment.
To be White and blameless is to repeat problematic behaviors again and again in expectation of the same result.
Ah to be White and blameless!
To be White is to be held to a different standard or to no standard at all.
To be White is to be blame retardant, Teflon and to be blameless is to learn nothing from your punishment and to teach others nothing by your punishment.
To be White and blameless is to repeat problematic behaviors again and again in expectation of the same result.
Ah to be White and blameless!
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