In this time of a pandemic, limited socializing, high unemployment numbers, the not-to-be-forgotten climate change problem, rising racial tensions, political polarization, and just a general uncertainty for the future, it’s understandable that people are angry. But if you’re angry because people of color and their supporters are angry, but you’re not concerned with why people of color and their supporters are angry, then you might suffer from what is appropriately called ‘white privilege.’
Some white people are angry because black people are trying to bring attention to an important issue: black people face a high risk of being killed by police. Over their lifetime, black men in particular face a much higher risk of being killed by police than white men.
But the anger goes deeper than that. These current protests sparked by the unnecessary death of George Floyd are about more than just his heinous murder at the knee of white cop. It’s about all the heinous murders, and almost murders, of black men and women at the hands and knees and weapons of white cops. It’s about armed white men chasing down unarmed black men and killing them. It’s about white women calling 911 on law abiding black men. It’s about ‘stand your ground’ laws which encourage racially charged violence. It’s about people of color having to raise their children to be fearful of the police, teaching them that making one wrong move, or even saying one wrong word, could mean the end of their life.
White people don’t have those issues.
That is white privilege.
If you’re white, you don’t get to tell people of color how they should be angry. That is not up to you. If someone is angry, we should listen to them to learn why they are angry, not just be pissed off because people different than us are pissed off about issues we think don’t affect us.
Instead of being pissed off at sports figures for taking a knee during the National Anthem, you should have listened to why they were doing it. You should have asked yourself why they were quietly protesting and then sought out the answer. You didn’t. Instead you vilified the players for making you uncomfortable. You thought of them as ‘lesser,’ and wanted nothing more than for them to shut up and step back in line so you could go back to enjoying mainly young black men damage their brains and bodies for your ‘entertainment.’ You were angry at their peaceful protests.
That is white privilege.
Yet when white people get angry because they haven’t been able to go to a bar or a restaurant or, god forbid, get a haircut because there’s a deadly pandemic happening, you seem to be fine with armed white men protesting at state capitols, angry white women in their SUVs yelling at nurses in the street, and a mob of white people at an anti-social-distancing protest pressed against statehouse windows looking like a scene out of a zombie movie.
While those people are all idiots who either don’t understand science or refuse to listen to the advice of those that do, their anger is understandable. We all are frustrated and angry by the necessary limitations put on us by the pandemic.
But anger is not reserved exclusively for white people.
In regards to a police killing of an unarmed black man, many white people repeat the mantra that one bad apple doesn’t mean the whole barrel is bad. True. No one has argued that it is. But when ‘good’ cops look away from what ‘bad’ cops are doing--when they condone the abhorrent behavior of their colleagues, either out of fear or some unwritten brotherhood code--then there is more going on than just a few bad apples. That’s no longer individualized. That’s systemic. That’s a police culture that needs to change.
When cops approach peaceful protestors and shoot them with rubber bullets or pepper spray them or push them to the ground or kick them over while they try to get their bearings or provoke violence then they are being bullies. They don’t get a pass for being law enforcement. In fact, being a member of law enforcement, they should be held to a much higher standard. And when they fail that higher standard, they should be held accountable. The ‘good’ cops, and there are many, should be out in front on this, demanding things to change.
People are pissed off because the system doesn’t treat everyone equally. Black people see this in their communities every day. White people don’t. Thus many white people don’t understand the anger. And since it happens over there, in communities many white people would rather not see, they view the protests as a threat to their way of life--to their existence--and they demand that it stop. They belittle the protestors or refuse to see the message because they get hung up on the violence. They then demand that the protesting should be done differently, on their terms, in a way that makes them feel more comfortable. Really, that means in a way so they don’t have to see it.
That is white privilege.
Change is often dirty. Systemic change is down right messy. Flowers and rainbows aren’t going to always get it done. But be careful casting blame for the violence. Things aren’t always what they seem since other people have other agendas.
People of color have much to be angry about--white silence, apathy, and indifference be damned. We need to listen to people of color; support them; help them realize they are loved and that we will not stand for bullying and inequality. That we, too, demand change.
I ask that if you’re saddened or befuddled or angered by the mass protests to please take a moment to understand the years of oppression and inequality our black brothers and sisters have had to endure. Then ask yourself, if under the same circumstances, if you would feel the same way they do? Would you be as outraged and hurt and desperate for change? If your answer to those questions is no, or if you can’t even fathom the questions at all, then that is white privilege.
And anger is not exclusively reserved for white people.
No comments:
Post a Comment