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This thread is so absolutely accurate, and no, it's not about deflecting blame from white women or men in general. This is something that white men NEED TO ADDRESS AMONG THEMSELVES, and the ones who agree with us need to do way, WAY fucking more work. https://twitter.com/queerBengali/status/1323989880012218369
If you're a white guy who follows me, I want you to think about the way that people of color and women are visibly liberal around you, and start emulating them. So many GOP white men think all white guys think like them because liberal white guys stick to their White Guy Uniform.
Yes, this means wearing masks or shirts or hats with slogans—as shallow as it sounds, that's fucking effective, because it jars other WM out of assuming you agree with them, that they're in a comforting majority. Yes, this means calling out the casual bigotry of your coworkers.
You HAVE to do this. White women don't do it enough, I absolutely agree. But white men don't do it AT ALL, and in fact nearly every time I've tried calling shit out, I've gotten equal pushback from both conservative AND liberal white men in the group.
The latter come up later and say they agree with me privately that Uncle Mike or whoever was out of line. PLEASE STOP DOING THIS; AGREE WITH ME IN THE MOMENT. Better yet, BE the one putting your comfort on the line. Because that's all it is; your comfort. It's our lives.
And I'm asking you to do this while offering absolutely nothing in return; none of this is going to get you praise from ANYONE. And that sucks! We all want praise! But white men are burning this country down to be first among the ashes. You have to stop it. And you CAN.
So go donate to an abortion fund and slap their thank-you sticker on your car/SUV/truck; get some cute BLM masks from a Black-owned Etsy business; get a copy of "The Color of Law" and read it on your lunch break or out in the park or wherever you're allowed to be these days.
Make it glaringly, blaringly, EMBARRASSINGLY obvious what you believe, who you want to help, who you want to support in this country. Stop wearing the White Guy uniform of a team baseball hat and a shirt from LL Bean. And no, it's not virtue signalling.
It's virtue statement. It's countering the folks telling you you're virtue signalling by asking them which virtues they think you're signalling that they disagree with. It's saying "knock it off" when someone makes a shitty joke on the zoom meeting. It's just...virtue.
I'm well aware that the white guys who follow me is in like, the low double-digits. So I hope those guys retweet this, and that their white guy followers do, too. That's your power; that's your membership. Use it, for God's sake. If you agree with us you HAVE TO BE LOUDER.
And you have to make peace with the fact that you will not be thanked. Nobody will appreciate it! The folks who disagree will dislike you; the folks who agree will wonder why you're being so obnoxious. This is just thankless repetitive work with no possibility of rewarded.
But there are things we do because we need to. We strap our kids into carseats even when they scream. We take the car keys away from our drunk friends even if they try to take a swing at us. We clean up the dog shit even though the dog doesn't care.
This is just something you need to do. So go do it, and know that you are saving the country from the white guys who thought you were just like them.
Addendum to all the white guys liking this thread: the whole point is that you need to be VISIBLE about agreeing. You don't have to retweet this because who the fuck cares, but say something about your donations to a bail fund or the uncomfortable call you made today.
