Why Your Not-Racism Means the Racists are Winning
Being anti-racist should be the goal instead
Black History Month is over and I have an announcement to make: I have officially become sick of hearing “I’m on the right side of the issue because I’m not a racist!” or one of its many variations.
There is no imperative, or motivation, or urgency, to rouse oneself to participate in combatting racism.
What this (and the person uttering it) is actually saying to me is that they are very tied to the idea of being “not-racist.” When a person is not-racist, it means that they think they don’t participate directly in actions or decisions that lead to discriminatory outcomes, or worse, against racialized people in society. They may have a good buddy who is Black, or play soccer with a couple of Latinos, or share a virtual drink every other Friday night with an ethnically mixed group. They are not a Capitol insurrectionist, or a Proud Boy, or someone prone to despicable diatribes on their social media channel of choice.
They just go through their lives not being a racist scumbag to other people.
I hate to point out the obvious, but this is not a terribly high bar to clear. It’s also become apparent that this low standard…
