1 | Ask yourself why you felt the insistent need to pose as an authority and attempt to disprove Tamela’s correct and widely-shared assertion. You didn’t like your assumption that Tamela was calling you “bad” and you took it personally enough to make a full numbered list proving that assertion correct by supplying yourself as a case study. America is built in such a way that “good” people are racist. You haven’t overcome your racism, you’re currently languishing in it here, but hey, you might be a good person otherwise.
2 | The fact that you tried to pat yourself on the back for the intermixing of your lineage just showcases the racism that resides in your brain. No black person or person of color walks around talking about how good they are because they’re open to procreating with other races. This asinine question also assumes that black people are just black and nothing else. Black American lineage is so mixed from both rape and choice that no one has the luxury of giving themselves credit for intermixing their line or being commendable for having a different genetic make-up than their grandchildren. White supremacy is responsible for this overproduction celebrating your willingness for your descendants to not be as white as you.
3| Nowhere in Tamela’s words did she ever state or imply we as Black Americans have it the worst. In fact, she expressly told you that she does not engage in Oppression Olympics. That is a disgusting and racist tactic that compares oppression for the sole purpose of dismissing and erasing whoever that person is saying doesn’t have it worse. You can play Oppression Olympics all by yourself as you seem content to do.
4| Look in the mirror and repeat these words to your reflection: “I am a white man and no black person or black woman needs me to try to give them a perspective on their daily experiences in black skin in America.” Repeat it until it sinks in. Your perspective on our oppression does not matter. The fact that you are here attempting to throw around your weight and assert that you have anything worthwhile to say on a subject that you do not experience and the content of your commentary has the sole purpose of telling a black woman that she is wrong, again, speaks to your racism. If you were actively combatting your racism instead of letting it run ramped, you would have read this article and sat with it, even the parts you didn’t agree with, and then maybe asked questions to help yourself understand better. You would not have come here with a numbered list fully believing that you could educate a black woman on racism as a white man. You can fuck all the way off implying that black people need to be grateful for having the privilege of existing in America.
5| You know absolutely nothing about Tamela’s life, her family’s life, or any of our lives to be able to make the assertion that anyone else has it harder than us, especially in “many cases”. This whole list thus far has served as your way of telling a black woman to shut up and stop complaining already because I think, as a white man, these people of color that I have a modicum of more respect for over here have it worse than you. The very least you can do is acknowledge and sincerely respect how we have been treated and continue to be on both a systemic and personal basis and how hard we continue to strive for a better future by interacting with people like yourself to our detriment.
6| Concerning the murders of black PEOPLE by police– do not talk to a black woman about black men being murdered when we die by police and other white supremacists regularly too– don’t talk about what we have to do in one breath and then dismiss and erase it as “not that bad” in the next. Say it with me, “Do. NOT. Play. Oppression. Olympics.” The only people who win Oppression Olympics are racist.
7| “To be a Negro in this country and to be relatively conscious is to be in a rage almost all the time.” — James Baldwin
That is where our contempt comes from, Glenn. Not something as flippant as familiarity. We do not need to leave the US to have “real perspective on…American society and law enforcement” but you do need to have walked in black (or other melanin) skin to have a real perspective on our experience. This also assumes that black people as a whole have the means with which to travel outside of this country. What about the systemic financial affects of racism do you not understand? My dad lived through segregation in Tennessee and the only time he’s been out of the country was because my mom won a trip to Mexico. He doesn’t need to leave to tell you about what this country is like for black people.
8| We do not need your fake words of encouragement after you have told us to be grateful for all the mess that we go through from the country at large and here by your own hand. Goodbye.