Property damage and pearl clutching
How well-intentioned white people are still the gatekeepers to oppression.
I’ve seen this phrase more times than I can count. I’ve been inundated with white opinions about all the push back from people of color against the racist authoritarianism that’s resurfaced from the belly of White America. Most recently Trump’s star on the Hollywood walk of fame was demolished, with most of the responses falling into the “I disagree with what Trump says, but they should be better.”
White people are more upset by the counter protests and damaged property than the willing and eager racism being stirred up by the most openly disgusting candidate for president.
White People who pride themselves on their “principles” because they are dispassionate need to stop pretending objectivity gives validity to an opinion. They don’t realize their dispassion is simply privilege being paraded around in the faces of those afflicted, or they do and just don’t care.
White America is Dana Scully, unflinchingly reluctant to believe there is something larger at stake. That the individual instances of lives being taken don’t add up to a larger profile of how people of color are victims of systemic racial injustice.
So his star was vandalized? Big. Fucking. Deal. He has inspired racists to act out and actual people are the ones on the receiving end of it. No amount of property will ever match up to the irreparable damage done by his entire campaign. There are already trans women that have been attacked and murdered from the insane bathroom debate. There are already folks of color who are getting the shit kicked out of them and Hijabi Women being set on fire. What good does having “the moral high ground” do when your life is literally at risk?
Why are we never allowed to be angry? Conservative media calls us thugs, cockroaches, terrorists, murderers, gang members, and rapists every day. Trump just capitalized on it. Why is it up to us to constantly be chill because we might “hurt our cause”? At a certain point, you have to understand or at least fucking try to see that this isn’t just “political discourse” but our safety and right to exist.
The only good non-violence does is appeal to folks who are on the fence. They see the images of us being beaten (think dogs and fire hoses in the 60’s) and they go:
OMG. Those poor people.
There’s a really disgusting aspect that plays into non-violent protest, that I cannot be chill about. It plays into white savior-ism and limits the actions we can take because of how we will be perceived when we don’t have time to sit patiently by and wait for people who aren’t sure how to feel about our rights to see us as human.
“Non-violence is a type of political performance designed to raise awareness and win over sympathy of those with privilege.
“…We need to clarify what we mean by terms like “violence” and “peaceful.” Because, to be clear, violence is beating, harassing, tazing, assaulting and shooting Black, trans, immigrant, women, and queer people, and that is the reality many of us are dealing with daily…” — Benji Hart
It’s not a secret that the media has been doing a terrible job of making Trump, or anyone else for that matter, accountable for anything they’ve said. Some Republicans have had tiny moments of sanity but very few have retracted their endorsement. Essentially no one is standing up for marginalized people, except for marginalized people, and you wanna cry foul? That’s the easiest thing to do when your head is not on the chopping block. Republicans aren’t targeting you with endless slurs and insults and legislation that would restrict your ability to live peacefully.
“… the white moderate who is more devoted to ‘order’ than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says ‘I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I can’t agree with your methods of direct action.’ — Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
“I disagree with what he says, but you need to be better too.” Is victim blaming. Plain and simple. It’s exhausting for the disenfranchised to be expected to suffer marginalization with quiet dignity. You only appreciate our liberation when we ask politely for it. We must come to you with our heads bowed, like Oliver Twist asking for more gruel. We’ve tried that for decades, and this election cycle, that is simply not going to happen.
