This is likely to get me banned but it is being asked in good faith.
What responsibility do I have to this? I understand that a lot of people are hurting, and there is a historical precedence for their pain, but why is there the expectation that people will let this supersede their own pain? There's a lot of talk about people educating themselves and learning how to be an effective ally. Do you realize the luxury you all have in your educations, careers and socioeconomic standing to be able to wax poetic about inequality and white privilege? It seems very convenient to me that the people who are the loudest about condemning the self-interest of a vulnerable population are those of you who have benefited the most from the system you are demonizing. It must be nice. None of you even like me or my people. This forum has people wishing for their deaths, and I have a moral obligation to attend to your needs?
I think you're asking in good faith so I'll try to answer in good faith, though there's a lot to unpack here...
What responsibility do I have to this? I understand that a lot of people are hurting, and there is a historical precedence for their pain, but why is there the expectation that people will let this supersede their own pain?
First you have to take a birds eye view and ask yourself, "what empathetic responsibility do I have for anyone's pain and suffering?". You say you understand that people are hurting and that there is historical precedence and then follow that with a "
but". However basic empathy for follow men should dictate that there need be no "
but" afterwards. You see and understand pain and then choose instead to selfishly turn inwards rather than seek to help.
Second, you have to take a personal view and ask yourself "what responsibility do I personally have for the pain of black folks" and you may think that responsibility is 0. The thing about white supremacy is that it doesn't pick and choose who it benefits and who it harms. All white people are the beneficiary and all black people are harmed. Here's where it gets muddy though,
white supremacy does not mean all white people have it easy. It, very simplistically, means all white people will benefit more in a situation than a black person in a similar situation. This is an undeniable fact of our American democracy, where Black people have been "free" for decades from slavery and Jim Crow but still have to deal with structures of white power put in place and maintained by those willing to leverage power against them. In 2016 it was harder for black people to vote than any time since the Civil Rights Act was passed, for example.
So you may be thinking, selfishly, what's all this got to do with me? Why should I care about the plight of the black people when I've got my own problems and the benefits of White Supremacy aren't having tangible effects on my life?
If empathy alone cannot sway you, then remember those power people leveraging white supremacy to maintain power? They're using you to do it. Underclass white folk have been used by the white power structure to maintain a stranglehold on power and keep money flowing into the pockets of the 1% rather than into your pocket and the pocket of your Black neighbor. They convince you that Black Lives Matter is a terrorist organization so that you'll vote for stricter policing laws which allows further entrenching of white power and more money funneled into the Police Industrial Complex, they convince you that black people are lazy and don't deserve social welfare programs and so you'll vote for gutting of welfare programs that not only help you, but your Black neighbor, funneling more money into the pockets of those in power. They convince you that the American experience is one of suffering and struggle and that if individuals don't make it to the top it's because those individuals are
failures and so you vote against free education for all and you and your Black neighbor are left floundering with dead end jobs because blue collar work is a thing of the past.
They want you to stay poor and malleable and most importantly afraid of black equality.
So, what personal responsibility do you have? A ton. Denial of white supremacy and continued voting against your own self interest. This doesn't mean you're racist, or even a bad person, you are just another victim of entrenched power except you've been given the benefit of a light at the end of your long, endless tunnel, and when the entrenched power holds you back they tell you that it's not their fault, but the fault of your Black neighbor and you believe it. You feel victimized not by the 1%, but by those who look differently from you, even though you're all suffering in the same malaise.
I don't know you so I can't say for sure that this is the case, but this is part of a plan that's been being implemented since long before you were born and will continue as long as we allow it.
There's a lot of talk about people educating themselves and learning how to be an effective ally. Do you realize the luxury you all have in your educations, careers and socioeconomic standing to be able to wax poetic about inequality and white privilege?
Not everyone who's preaching education is doing so from a position above you, this seems like a silly assumption but makes sense given your unconscious feelings of victimhood.
It seems very convenient to me that the people who are the loudest about condemning the self-interest of a vulnerable population are those of you who have benefited the most from the system you are demonizing. It must be nice.
You know where I said above that you're being convinced, falsely, that the thing holding you back from your American Dream is minorities? This excerpt is what convinced me. You're implying that the victims of white supremacy are actually somehow benefiting from it more than you. I suppose because of hiring practices and universities having a black person quota? No body without money and power benefits from a divided population. Minorities don't benefit when you suffer, and you don't benefit when they suffer. This isn't a zero sum game where whiteness is pitted against non-whiteness for scraps of power and money.
None of you even like me or my people. This forum has people wishing for their deaths, and I have a moral obligation to attend to your needs?
This is just silly. A few folks on here have taken shit too far every so often, there's no denying that, but you don't know these people and they don't know you.
You sit down with someone you feel hates you at a bar and have a beer with them and I guarantee yall'd get along just fine because in the end we're all humans. It's only when we're removed from face to face, constant contact with humanity that we allow ourselves become suspicious and distrusting of our fellow man. Take some some time to talk to these people you so distrust and try to get past your mistaken assumptions.
You're response is emblematic of the big problem of white supremacy in America. Powerful white people have convinced you and millions of others that any movement or legislation for minority equality is somehow hindering your progress. Which is where White Fragility and White Violence come from.
