Read on Twitter
In discussion of the BLM protests, it's often brought up that there are plenty of cases of innocent white Americans being killed by police, and that some of these cases receive comparatively little coverage.
There are basically two ways to react to this.
There are basically two ways to react to this.
One way (and unfortunately a common way) is to use this as cynical reason to dismiss anti-racist protests out of hand...and afterwards, usually to stop thinking about the problem of police misconduct and brutality altogether.
Another way to approach it is this:
"Maybe people should know more about these cases, and then they'd realize that police reform is something that all Americans have a direct stake in, because it affects all of us (albeit unequally)."
And then get to work on finding solutions.
"Maybe people should know more about these cases, and then they'd realize that police reform is something that all Americans have a direct stake in, because it affects all of us (albeit unequally)."
And then get to work on finding solutions.
(Pictured: Daniel Shaver, Justine Damond, Zachary Hammond, Douglas Zerby)
As Albert Thompson, one of our national committee members, put it in this interview, "Racism is extra."
https://www.patheos.com/blogs/cracksinpomo/2020/10/racial-justice-and-third-party-politics-an-interview-with-albert-thompson/?
https://www.patheos.com/blogs/cracksinpomo/2020/10/racial-justice-and-third-party-politics-an-interview-with-albert-thompson/?
What do we mean by that?
Most the of the problems disproportionately affecting black and other minority communities are not *solely* racial problems. They are problems faced by Americans of all backgrounds, to which is added the weight of past and present racial injustice.
Most the of the problems disproportionately affecting black and other minority communities are not *solely* racial problems. They are problems faced by Americans of all backgrounds, to which is added the weight of past and present racial injustice.
In Albert's words, racism "is not the only thing, and for some people, it is not the central issue, but for many millions of Americans, race issues are the biggest problem in their lives. The ASP neither inflates nor ignores this reality. Racism is anti-national solidarity."
One of the pernicious effects of racism and political polarization around racial issues is that it causes us to overlook precisely what Americans have in common:
"Qualified immunity is a constitutional and public safety concern for every American, but race can make it seem like it is not. It is the same with education attainment. Student debt, mental health, or substance abuse, name a problem, and race create[s] a disparate impact."
But that disparate impact should never obscure the fact that these are challenges Americans of all backgrounds face.
On the right, racial resentment has long been harnessed to mobilize white voters against policies like welfare programs seen to disproportionately help minorities--even though the majority of Americans in poverty are white.
On the left, more recently, we've seen a tendency by some (usually white) people to use the language of identity politics to pour classist contempt on working-class and rural white people. You do not have to look very far to find examples of this.
What unites the struggles of ordinary Americans of all colors is, as Albert says, "a national system that is hard on families and communities, which actively divides and atomizes people."
The solutions will be complex. But they will require one thing above all: solidarity.
The solutions will be complex. But they will require one thing above all: solidarity.
