Whiteness Has Never Existed Peacefully in America

White people who cling to the illusion of whiteness left themselves no choice but to violently storm The Capitol on January 6, 2021.

Photo by Cameron Smith on Unsplash

In what looked like scenes from a movie, news outlets showed America what many of us knew would eventually happen — white citizens violently terrorizing the nation and government. Their reason? Undermine democracy to keep a white supremacist/white supremacy in power. Many Americans watched in horror and confusion, asking “How could this happen?,” to which I ask, “How did you not see this coming?”

What we’re witnessing are tactics that whiteness has used throughout history to gain, maintain, and usurp power across the world and throughout the entire existence of the United States of America. Whiteness is an ideology that is administered to white people’s consciousness from birth that tells them that they are entitled to everything and are at the top of the hierarchy that whiteness itself created. It tells them that power, success, beauty, access, money, and resources are theirs for the taking through any means necessary.

Whiteness, as an ideology, is inherently delusional and violent, which means that destruction and death will always be possible outcomes. Whiteness chips away at its host’s humanity and turns them into a ravenous zombie hellbent on selfishly accumulating and maintaining power and resources. People infected with whiteness have no regard for others when they perceive their interests are in danger; and because whiteness is delusion, it sees everything and everyone as a threat.

As long as white people remain attached to their idea of whiteness, especially white people in power, no one is safe, not even other white people. Whiteness has no loyalty. It is only loyal to its own self interests.

So what happens next?

It’s going to get worse before it gets better

What happens next is simply more of this. The more whiteness loses power, the harder it will fight to keep it. The good news is that we no longer live in a world where whiteness, as an ideology, can flourish. Thanks to the work of hundreds of thousands of people throughout history who stood up to whiteness, many of whom were murdered because of it, we now live in a time when the majority society’s consciousness sees whiteness for what it is and rejects it.

However, whiteness is far from being eradicated. The fact that Trump was elected and remained president over the past four years speaks to the strong hold that whiteness still has on white Americans. The targeted delivery of propaganda through Facebook and other social media and news outlets to white people has been a major contributor. The Netflix documentary film The Social Dilemma outlines the prevalence and reach Facebook has in spreading misinformation to targeted populations through algorithms that are based on user data, interests, and political leanings.

The documentary film gives examples of how Facebook played a role in undermining democracy in “third world” countries such as Myanmar. While social media has helped connect more people, and has helped community activists organize protests that enacted real change, social media has also contributed to the demise of critical thinking, free-will thinking, human connection, and our ability to be flexible in our beliefs.

What you can do to help this country

It’s easy to feel hopeless and helpless when you see a bold and violent demonstration at a building that is a physical representation of democracy in this country. What this does is it tears down our belief that this country can still be salvaged. We know America is broken. We know attempts to fix it have failed to do so completely. This does not mean we stop trying.

On the same day that whiteness chose to further reveal to the world how far it’s willing to go for power, many of us were breathing a sigh of relief over the senate seat wins of Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff in Georgia. This race, along with Georgia turning blue for Joe Biden, demonstrated what is possible when Black women go up against whiteness.

“Now do you understand why Republicans suppress Black votes? I hereby declare that the Southern states are not red. They are suppressed.” — @MidwinCharles

When I read this post on social media regarding the Georgia senate race victories, it further solidified how whiteness works in America. Black people and other non-white people were never meant to, set up for, or allowed to have the freedom, voice, and power that whiteness hoards for itself.

So, what can we do as citizens of this country?

• Listen to and support Black women, and let them lead. Black women see the world from an outsider’s perspective both as Black people and women. A Black woman who desires to share her knowledge, wisdom, and energy to improve this country is dedicated to the American people in a way that others, especially white men, are not. America has offered them nothing, and yet they still fight for what is just.
• If you are a person of color, let go of your affinity and proximity to whiteness. Whiteness will never provide you with what you want because it is not willing to share what it has with you. The good news is that you do not need whiteness to get what you want. Turn to those who envision, create, and relate to others without centering whiteness. This doesn’t mean that white people aren’t involved. It means that upholding whiteness is not an overt or covert mission or outcome.
• If you’re a white person, liberate your consciousness from whiteness. When you do, you’ll feel a sense of relief and grounding that is impossible to feel when functioning under the idea of whiteness. By letting go and freeing yourself, you open your heart and eyes to feel and see the world for the chaotic mess that whiteness has made it. It’s not going to be easy to witness this. In fact, you’re going to be tempted to go back to living under whiteness. When this happens, lean into your humanity. Allow your innate desire and ability to connect with other people on a human level to take over. It’s going to take time to unravel and cleanse yourself of the poison that whiteness injects into your mind.
• If you’re a person of color, continue to unapologetically achieve greatness. You are not an imposter. This feeling is the basic awareness that you live in a world that whiteness created for itself to hoard knowledge, power, and opportunity for itself. Your success will open doors and tear down walls that will allow other marginalized folks to access what was rightfully ours to begin with.
• If you’re a white person, raise your kids without administering the prescribed doses of whiteness. White parents who inject whiteness into their kids are actually killing their innocence, sense of empathy, and humanity over time. Instead, give your kids the antidote to whiteness. Teach them that this world is unfairly created to favor them and that anything they have and achieve, a person of color may never get the chance to obtain, even if they word 10 times harder (which most of us do already.) Constantly help your kids identify and speak out against the unfair treatment of kids and people of color. When they are given an unfair and unearned advantage over others simply because they are white, they must be able and willing to denounce that special treatment. Unearned success for white people is exploitation of and opportunity stolen from people of color.
• To everyone, remove yourself from Facebook and social media enough to where you can focus on rebuilding your critical thinking skills. No, I’m not calling you stupid. What I’m getting at is that our thirst for information, perspective, and knowledge has led us to a stream of polluted Facebook/social media feeds that negatively impact our ability to think freely and openly. Read books, have open conversations with people, and do anything else that will build your tolerance for differing opinion. Reinvigorate your thirst for knowledge.

This country will continue to fall apart before our very eyes, and that’s okay. It’s actually necessary if there is any hope to build something that is truly fair and devoid of all that whiteness produces. What feels like a time of hopeless is an invitation to keep hope alive. If we let go, we risk losing our chance to make America average, which would be a huge step up from where we are right now.