I should have done this a long time ago, however, since things are about to heat up, now is going to be the time:
The views I express in this or any of my blog posts are mine and mine alone, and do not necessarily (and probably don't) represent or reflect the beliefs of any organization or company I work or associate with now, or have ever worked or associated with in the past. I have no organizational backing or support whatsoever for any of the things that I am expressing. These are purely my personal beliefs expressed for my own personal satisfaction and for no form of external compensation of any kind. Period.
So yeah.
There are some Facebook pages that I've seen by following liberal trolls, with names like "white and proud of it" or "white pride doesn't equal racism", or whatever the fuck they are called. I feel the need here and now to establish in detail why these statements are not only wrong but also how these names, in and of themselves, go a long way to demonstrating how wrong they really are.
I've read literature by James Baldwin, Malcolm X, Maya Angelou, Alice Walker, Amiri Baraka, W. E. B. DuBois, and other black writers, though admittedly not as much as I should have. However, I have read enough to know that black folks through the years in America have felt shame and self-hatred for being black. Much of this was externally and forcefully imposed - i.e. being told by authority figures, teachers, business owners, politicians, employers, that being black was somehow wrong or less than being white. However this also has often come to manifest itself internally, a black person in quiet moments and in private thought wishing they weren't black or actually believing deep down that being black meant they were less or inadequate, or didn't matter, or were invisible. And the mainstream (white) culture surrounding them did much to support and sanction this belief. This has been expressed by black writers and artists and I fully believe that they are/ were expressing true feelings when they are/ were expressing it.
This is unjust, wrong, and abominable. I believe that as much as I believe anything in this life. And it makes me feel rotten, dirty, guilty, and awful inside, to the point where it has led to sleepless nights, weeks and months of depression, and feelings of hopelessness that there was nothing I could do to right this wrong or even lessen it.
Assholes call this feeling "white guilt".
The term "white guilt" in and of itself isn't necessarily obnoxious, because as a two-word descriptor, it's fairly accurate in naming this feeling (although perhaps in an overly simplified manner). However, it becomes obnoxious when this term is used by racist white assholes to dismiss assertions of injustice and inequity when they are expressed by other white people.
A. Racist: "Oh, it's just white guilt."
What do you mean by "just"?
Is it just for me to feel guilty or ashamed for being who I am? I obviously believe it is. If it weren't I don't think I would feel this way. Is it just that black people should ever feel that they are less or not as valuable as white people? No. It is not.
Obviously I've thought about this issue for many an hour and often my thoughts have turned to the origins of these feelings. Why exactly do I feel guilty?
I don't know a whole hell of a lot about my ancestry, but, I am pretty sure my family or families have not been in America for long enough or have ever been well off enough to have owned slaves. As I said, I can't be completely sure about this, but if I had to actually bet money on it, I would bet money that I am correct in saying what I have said.
Does this mean I have not benefitted from slavery and its consequences? Or that as a white person I have not pursued advantages made available to me by the fact of being white?
Absolutely not.
As confidently as I can make the statement above, I can make the statement: I have not been followed around a store by employees to make sure I'm not stealing anything. Or: I have not been pulled over in my car by the police without doing something wrong. Or: I have not been looked at suspiciously for walking down the street and had people clutch their possessions or lock their doors when I walked by them. If any of these things have ever happened to me, I have never seen or noticed them happen, so like I said, I feel pretty confident that they have not happened.
Can one put a value on this?
Probably not. But if one could, it would not be a small value, it would be a big value. Only by never having thought of this could someone dismiss these things as not a big deal.
Hey - if you know any black people, ask them, have they ever experienced the things I described two paragraphs above? The President of the United States has. Billionaire entertainment mogul Oprah Winfrey has. The prominent writers I named at the beginning of this piece have.
That is not fair. That is not just. And that must not be how we as a country define ourselves.
When I state these things to an unsympathetic listener, my statements are dismissed as "white guilt". And that's all the thinking the listener has to do about it. "Oh, he just has white guilt. No need to think about what he said any further. On to the next bullfuck frivolous thing in my life. Doo doo doo dooooooo... being white is awesome!!!"
But when a black person, or person of color states these things, they are accused of "HATING AMERICA!!"
"The Obamas hate America. They're trying to teach our kids to hate America. The history books in these luhbrul public schools are brainwashing our kids to hate UHMURRRCAAHH!!!"
What these assholes mean when they say these things is white America. White people are America and deserve to dominate all other people who are lucky and blessed enough to even be able to be here. They feel entitled enough to equate America with white people. This is the equation that rules an American racist's thinking:
America = White People
So, when you're reading a racist idiot's ramblings (Ann Coulter, Bill O'Reilly, Glen Beck, millions of people who aren't getting rich by being racist), just remember, that when they say "America", what they really think and mean is, "White".
So. When I have to look at myself and think about my identity as a white person, which I am, there is no debate over that, I can see in the mirror that I am white, and that is all I will ever be, I just have to feel some kind of self-loathing. I am rightly and justly compelled. Because so very many people erroneously believe that whites are superior. Even if I don't believe it, and have never believed it, and my parents never believed it or told me to believe it, I STILL BENEFIT FROM IT because there are just so fucking many racist assholes that I encounter every day, and because of my whiteness, they view me as good or at least ok, where if I was black they would not see me as good or ok, and would view me with suspicion, distrust, resentment, or full-on hatred. I can't wear a shirt that says "I think racism is bullshit, white people aren't so great, don't afford me any of the benefits of racism" or something like that. The benefits just come to me whether I want them or not.
And that is why my guilt is justified. Because I'm receiving something (a benefit) that I don't deserve and don't want and there is immediately nothing I can do to stop it. And every time I take advantage of it or play into it even a little, even unintentionally, I am doing something terrible. Really terrible. I am committing a crime against humanity.
...
So this is bad, right? Well I'm about to dig deeper and as I do it just gets worse. To this point I probably haven't said anything you haven't already thought of yourself. Things are about to go from bad to worse. Right now.
You might be asking yourself, how did this situation come to be? How did whites reach this privileged position? Why are things this way? How deep does this type of racism go into the fabric of human civilization?
Enter the way of gun.
So, the percentage is going down, but white people are still like 60-70% of Americans.
Hey, wait just a second, not too long ago, wasn't this whole American continent populated by non-white people? What happened? The answer is the gun.
Imagine walking into a fight with a knife or axe or bow and arrow against someone with a gun. How do you think you're going to do? How do you think your army of soldiers, armed as you are, are going to do against their army (mostly armed with guns)?
As it turns out, not so well.
The reason so many white people are here now is white people came here from Europe with guns about 500 years ago and killed all the people who were here before, and took control of the continent.
Feeling good about yourself yet? Get ready to feel great!
And hey! How do you think whites were able to obtain and bring all the slaves, the ancestors of black Americans today, here from Africa? And keep them as slaves? Did they go willingly and slave willingly or did they go at gunpoint? I don't remember. I'm not a historian. I wasn't there. WERE GUNS INVOLVED????!!!
Hey, remember the 2nd amendment? The people... blah blah blah... bear arms.. infringed... yadayadayada, whatever. Remember how these white assholes love it so much and want to carry assault weapons in public and want to fight the government in an armed engagement and all that shit?
Well, if you do, and really I'm fully realizing this now myself, it should really be no surprise that these white people love guns, because guns have brought them to where they are and have made them what they are.
Guns are not "American". Guns are white. And all they bring is violence and death.
America was made at gunpoint.
Actually, it's a proud legacy and tradition I like to carry on by openly carrying on a daily basis. And putting an NRA sticker on my car next to the "fuck Obama" sticker. Next to the "marriage = 1 man + 1 woman" (another equation) sticker. But don't you dare call me racist. HOW DARE YOU??!!!
Conclusion: White pride equals racism because white people are at the privileged center of racism and to be pro-white is to sell that system of racism as hard as it can be sold.
DERM LUBRULS TRAHN TAKE MY GUHRRNS!!! OBAAAHHHHMMEEERRRRR!!!!!!
Let's move forward into the 21st century. We have a chance to leave the death and murder behind. Can we do it?
Only if we make it so.
*smile*
*point forward*
I probably should have entitled this post "America Was Made at Gunpoint".
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