A month ago, I would have been so utterly offended if someone tried to claim that I am racist, but now I read numerous articles each week explaining why every white person feeds the racism in our society and cannot help but agree. In no way am I proud to contribute to systematic injustices (especially those targeted at individuals due to their racial identity), yet I will humbly admit that my own ignorance encourages segregation right underneath my nose.
One day, I was sitting in class discussing why noticing racism in the world around you but doing nothing is so harmful. Our discussion focused strongly on the US government, and we talked about other examples of racist actions that none of us could ever see ourselves doing. We were all baffled by the reality that people genuinely do not believe they even have the potential to be racist. Eventually, one brave individual in our class brought up the fact that all of the people of color (POC) in our class sit on one side of the room. This small fact immediately brought out the realization that everyone in the class had contributed to a segregated dynamic in a class focused on learning about racism to ultimately become anti-racist! I had not even realized this segregation was occurring, and I pride myself in being inclusive and advocating for what is morally right… I instantly became embarrassed by my ignorance. At that moment, I felt as though my white privilege slapped me across the face.
This event reminded me of a podcast I listened to that questioned why white people suddenly began to speak out about racism in the summer of 2020. The podcasters attributed this to various possible causes such as the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement, COVID, and Trump’s presidency. They described a shift in “peer permission” occurring in 2020. White people finally felt comfortable speaking up about racial prejudice amongst their mainly (if not solely) white social circles. It became socially unacceptable to stay silent which likely influenced even more individuals to use their platforms to talk about racism. However, what was their intent in doing so?
Did the white individuals who began to advocate for the importance of Black lives truly care about these Black lives? I fear that the social repercussions theory that arose in the podcast led me to believe that some people had selfish intentions even while advocating for others. The podcast mentioned that the seemingly random spur of passion for the BLM movement might be displaced anger at the government and/or the state of the world. People were stuck at home, wearing masks, limiting their social interactions, and fearing for their lives. Trump’s prejudice was consistently revealed, and people needed a space to let out the overwhelming emotions caused by all of these things. I love that more people began to fight for the BLM movement, but is it truly anti-racist if white people only do so intending to remain higher in the social chain?
The anger at the world and polarized atmosphere around any political topics at that point in time lead me to believe that white people did so for personal gain. They became embarrassed about their ignorance regarding racism, but they only felt this way when thinking about how others perceive this ignorance. White people experienced a slap in the face from their ignorance as they watched the president they elected make openly prejudiced remarks on live television. As my example about the instance in one of my classes demonstrates, white people continue to segregate themselves from POC and remain naive to racism due to their privilege.
How have you witnessed segregation in the spaces around you?
I love how you are so open and honest with not only yourself but everyone able to read this post. As someone who noticed the class dynamic immediately I found it very funny, not in a this made me laugh way but in a way that was ironic, our class is about racism and we had all fallen into it just as much as we didn’t want to. I agree with your point on obligation, and the fear that not speaking up might come off a certain way never sat right with me, it reminds me of our discussion in class about influencers and if they should or should not fake activism, it was an interesting thing to discuss but necessary either way.
This is a super interesting blog post! I think it is very interesting how you noted that a lot of support for the BLM movement, in particular, was based on an obligation to support. This reminds me of a conversation that I had in high school with the BIPOC affinity group I was a part of, where we were discussing the black squares that were going viral on Instagram during the COVID-19 pandemic and the white students felt they were obligated to post the black square with the hashtag #BLM because they believed that if they didn’t, they would be picked out of the bunch who did post and thus be classified as a racist. You brought up a great point that there is a worrying presence of concrete thinking, meaning that people are centering their beliefs and actions around what is right and wrong according to perceived social obligations.
In regards to the BLM social media activity in 2020, I definitely fell into the trap of performative activism to appear “not racist” back then. However, it was my first real exposure to the issues of systemic racism in the US at the time, so the social media presentations definitely had their double-edged sword effects. I think they were beneficial in making more people aware of racism and getting some people to be more angry about the issues, but social media is only very limited in terms of promoting an antiracist future. Additionally, perhaps it was safer for people to be activists behind a screen during 2020 due to people being isolated in their homes and not having to face as many face-to-face confrontations about how they advocated / failed to advocate for BLM.
When it came to noticing how the students from minority groups and White student sat on different sides of the classroom, I noticed it right away but I was not brave enough to say anything about it. They are individuals who genuinely care combating and speaking up against inequality, racism, and equity but because of the way society pushes certain norms it can be difficult to grasp that there are White individuals who care or are doing it to go with the flow.