♃INDEX — TNSWA Series & CRI Case Studies.
Index for There Is No Such Thing as a White Ally (“TNSWA”) series & The Call Really Is Coming from Inside Your House (“CRI”) Case Studies.
I began the TNSWA series to retire the label “White Ally.” CRI is collection of case studies used as TNSWA adjuncts. Combined, they make and illustrate three basic principles.
1. BLACK ANTIPATHY IS NOT “MINE,” NOT “OURS,” IT’S YOURS.
Over the last six decades, we have gone from Black antipathy being a Black problem to Black antipathy being a shared problem. We have one last hurdle and we are home free: Black antipathy is a White problem. Now, this isn’t an indictment — no one is dying in the making of this series. I’m just not interested in carrying White water, so I am returning it to you here.
Returning ownership of the problem to the party with the problem is the beginning of racism’s end. Why? Because self-preservation does not change the player, self-preservation IS the game. Or, as Dwayne Reed says, “White supremacy won’t die until White people see it as a White issue they need to solve rather than a Black issue they need to empathize with.” I am fairly certain I was borne to make that dream our shared reality.
2. THE “WHITE ALLY” LABEL HAS GOT TO GO.
The label “White Alley” is one long marketing scheme: the terms themselves make about as much sense as “Rich Ally”; it encompasses everything but requires nothing; it is a total White-psych boost; it gives people cover to treat you badly “for your won good,” all in the name of friendship; and, of all the races in the nation, White folks are the least entitled to demand a presumption of Black racial harmony by default. Also, I am grown — I pick my own friends, just like you do.
Worse, it has been my experience in this process that those who make the most noise about surrendering the label often behave like horrible people. That’s an auto-DQ for Team Choco. In short: kill the name; kill the mentality; be a real friend; or, find someone else to play with.
3. WE ARE ALL DONE WITH BURDEN SHIFTING TOO.
CRI Case Studies illustrate one point, on repeat: stop shifting your failures to us, and then offering to “help” us accommodate them. That’s a hard thing to recognize in the moment, and it will take decades of practice to master.
CRI is meant to help with that. When I encounter these events, I address them as stand alone articles to share with you. You can follow along as I first identify the CRI point, then walk through the burden shifting chain, and finally return it to its rightful owner.
Acting as if Blacks own Black hate, then telling me you are my friend while shifting your burden to me is a life I am done with. It is not just wrong, it’s dangerous, and I’m not asking. We can be normal friends like normal people, or we can be nothing at all. Your call.
TNSWA SERIES
∻TNSWA Part 1: There Is No Such Thing as a White Ally (06/15/20).
∻TNSWA Part II: TNSWA: The Name’s Gotta Go (07/21/20).
📆:TNSWA Part III: TNSWA: The Racism Playbook is Dead.
📆:TNSWA Part IV: TNSWA: Crowd-Sourcing the Cure.
CASE STUDIES
∻CRI CASE 1 — Until You Do Right By My Daughter ~Dear Reader, 06/22/20.
🛠CRI CASE 2 — All Misunderstandings Matter ~K. Tiemubol 06/26/20.
🛠CRI CASE 3 — Virtue as a Tactic Doesn’t Work for Me ~Remarkl, 07/02/20.
∻CRI CASE 4— “I Couldn’t Bite My Own Kid” ~Sandy, 09/10/20.
📆:CRI CASE 5— I Choose Violence.
📆:CRI CASE 6— Calling Me Racist is Racist.
APPENDICES
∻TNSWA App. 1: Crowd-Sourcing the Narrative (06/30/20).
LEGEND
🛠: Under Construction. Upgrading to accommodate series changes.
📆: TBA. Series or case study is scheduled for later release.
Catherine Pugh is an Attorney at Law and former Adjunct Professor at the Temple University, Japan. She developed and taught Race and the Law for its undergraduate program, and Evidence, Criminal Law, and Criminal and Civil Procedure for its law program. She has worked for the Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, Special Litigation Section, and as a Public Defender for the State of Maryland.
To my sweetest of loves: I am the wall for them; you are the wall for me. And nothing — nothing — has ever gotten past you. You are my everything. #CubanKitchen.
“It takes the wisdom of the elders . . .” Thank you for teaching us, loving us, leading us all: Mary Stovall Davis Budd, Andrea Tucker, Lorenzo and Dorris Pugh, Jacqueline and Roger Wallace, Kenneth Davis, Sandra Davis, and Karen Davis.
