Let’s talk again about the ways we fool ourselves into thinking things are not about race by instead referencing other categories where black people happen to have higher representation without ever having to acknowledge the systems that led to that increased representation.
We tell ourselves we’re not talking about race…We’re talking about crime! Poverty! Discipline problems at school! Which we can do because the white people (mostly men) that passed laws and owned businesses and made decision for generations learned to hide their racism in things like redlining and policing. “We” as a country accepted that slavery and Jim Crow and lynchings and the KKK were all bad because: Racism! But white supremacy needed to maintain the power structure once “we” all agreed racism was bad, so systems shifted the oppression to create these other categories we could all safely talk and not feel like we’re racist.
Now anyone who wants to fly a blue lives matter flag can say, “It’s not about race! It’s about crime and supporting our law enforcement!” Never forcing themselves to look at the racist history of policing. Everyone who wants to justify their property taxes funding their schools can talk about it in terms of education and economics without ever having to acknowledge the effects these type of budgeting methods have on schools in poor districts which happen to have higher percentages of people of color. And god forbid anyone ever examine that closely. No…people can talk about poor communities without ever asking what systems were in place for generations to block Black families from buying homes or gaining any form of generational wealth.
This is why people don’t know they are racist. This is why I did not know I was racist. I talked about education and crime and poverty for years without ever asking why there were higher rates of crime, poverty, and school problems in black communities. I could say, “We don’t want to buy a house in that school district because the schools are underperforming,” without ever asking why those same schools also had Majority Minority populations and highest concentrations of students who qualify for free lunches. This is why people are trying to say: But are you anti-racist? Because so many of us have never actually talked about race so we don’t believe we could even be racist!
Okay…then are you anti-racist?
But honestly - I think we all need to force ourselves to recognize the truth: If we do not acknowledge the racism and systems of oppression that shaped our current economy, criminal justice system, and educational systems every time we talk about those things, then we are being racist. I think refusing to acknowledge those things is siding with the history that white supremacy wrote and completely denies historical evidence and economic/sociological data that demonstrates the oppressive effects it has had on BIPOC Americans. If you are siding with the way white supremacy has defined our economy as a merit-based system where everyone can achieve the American dream if they work hard enough…then you are racist.
Here is how I say it about myself in order to lessen the shame in others who are struggling to shift to an anti-racist mindset: “I used to look at the world through the eyes of someone educated in a school system taught by white teachers from text books written by white men. I believed the narratives told to me by the white business leaders and white elected officials. Our country is the greatest! Racism ended with the Civil Rights Amendment! There needed to be a War On Drugs! Welfare Moms were trying to get free stuff from my hard-earned taxes! Police keep us safe! But it turns out all of this messaging represents parts of the foundation that white supremacy has been building for years. When I started to pick apart some of those ideas and discover their racism roots…my entire worldview collapsed.”
If you truly believe our education system is merit-based, or if you don’t question any parts of our criminal justice system, or if you think poor people have all of the opportunities they need to succeed and their poverty is their fault…then you are still letting your worldview be supported by racist ideas and the oppressive systems white supremacy built to maintain power.
But also…if you don’t acknowledge all of those racist structures…if you pick and choose the ones that make you feel the most comfortable while ignoring the ones that force some introspection…you are still living with a racist worldview.
You can’t say, “Yes…I’ve done the reading…red-lining really did create an unfair disadvantage for Black Americans to build generational wealth in home-ownership,” and still never acknowledge the racist influence when you then say, “I don’t want my kid to go to that school because they just have really low test-scores, so I’m going to send them to private school.”
The whole foundation has to come down to really shift to an anti-racist worldview. And it’s hard because the truths are ugly and the anger and shame are reflexive.
But it is all necessary. INSTEAD, what you need to say is, “That school is underperforming because of the complicated web of oppressive systems that have bound certain people to poverty and then create school budgets in a way that favors wealthier school districts without acknowledging that because those districts are wealthier, the children are more likely to already have the advantages before they walk into the doors. And because of historical systems that disadvantaged Black Americans (like red-lining), poor neighborhoods have a higher percentage of Black families thereby making the odds of Black kids attending underperforming schools even higher.”
Then how does it feel to say, “I don’t want my kid to go to that school because they have low test scores.”
My daughter is trying to figure out ways to keep her allyship from being performative and sometimes she talks about things that make me feel shame and I get defensive and I feel embarrassed because she’s 15 and is questioning her motives and purpose more deeply than I am. Yet here we are.
I think white liberals are reading their anti-racist books and watching their documentaries about the criminal justice system and voting for Democrats and feeling like they’ve done the thing! They stopped being racist!
But did any of that require us to step outside our actual comfort zone built by white supremacy? Did we ever acknowledge personal responsibility in any of this? Am I making any actual lifestyle changes or going out of my way to change the systems that advantage white people?
It’s easy to make conservatives uncomfortable talking about criminal justice reform. But honestly? If none of your white liberal friends are uncomfortable too, then what you’re posting is probably performative allyship.
AND I AM CALLING OUT MYSELF WITH THIS AS WELL. I am 100% still a work in progress and have often thought about posting something to Facebook and thought, “Well…but…will that make people angry?” And you know what…I have a VERY white liberal Facebook community…maybe if I’m avoiding making them angry I’m being performative. I want to be able to assure my daughter I’m not being performative. I want to tell her when I donated to Black causes or supported BIPOC business or called our reps about criminal justice reform or POSTING SOMETHING THAT PISSED OFF WHITE LIBERALS.
Let’s don’t be performative. Let’s be uncomfortable. Let’s sit with what makes us feel icky and ask…WHY? Let’s knock down the WHOLE foundation of white supremacy in our worldview and not just the pieces that don’t force us to change our lives at all.