Read on Twitter
1/ I've been seeing a lot of tweets from white folks uncomfortable with sharing an identity with, well, White People. And I think about how all sorts of marginalized people have had to learn to love themselves through society's depiction of them as wrong/broken/bad/wicked/evil.
2/ And now we're just finally as a society dipping a collective toe into the pond of grappling with Whiteness as an ID, even as the behavior of a big segment of this demographic is problematic AT BEST, and people are having some big feelings about sharing an identity label with
3/ a whole lot of bad faith actors. A majority, even.
And I wonder about the cognitive dissonance of living your whole life being told you and yours were right/whole/good/righteous/pure, and having your Omelas moment and realizing, "my people are a shitshow I want no part of."
And I wonder about the cognitive dissonance of living your whole life being told you and yours were right/whole/good/righteous/pure, and having your Omelas moment and realizing, "my people are a shitshow I want no part of."
4/ So how do you go forward from that? I don't have an answer. I think there are some people who might, like, look at the white folks who've been doing the work for decades. They're out there, doing their flawed best, like anybody else. Get a good therapist, if you can.
5/ But whatever you do, please, PLEASE, do not come to the marginalized seeking to lay your burden down. It's tempting; that's how the movie would go! We have our own load to bear and we can't absolve you anyway, even if we wanted to. Only your behavior + the work can do that.
6/ There's a quote from I think Sherman Alexie (I know) about people pretending to be native. To paraphrase: you know you're [identity] when something happens and you would rather be anything else but [identity], but there you are and you have to own it.
7/ Guess what, people? You're white. Forever and ever. And 95% of this mess we're in is because white people feel marginalized people, but especially BIPOC, are threatening. And they are choosing to deal with this feeling of threat by subjugation and murder.
8/ This is not healthy, for us of course, but certainly for not you. Find another way. This is a White people problem. The marginalized have twisted ourselves into knots trying to solve this problem that isn't ours to solve. Our foundation is built on discrimination. Fix it.
9/ You're going to have to feel a lot of uncomfortable feelings until this is even properly being talked about as a society. Feel them.
And that's before we even start to address the inequities and inequalities white people feeling threatened caused. Make it right.
And that's before we even start to address the inequities and inequalities white people feeling threatened caused. Make it right.
10/ This country is all about "Can Do spirit," right? Yes, we can and We Can Do It! But we're clearly not doing it. We're a young country, less than 250. So, like early childhood teachers say, "we're not doing it, YET. It's hard, but we can do hard things." Grow. Do the work.
I'm sorry it's so hard. But all you can be is who you are, and I really never ever ever want to see another white person on here say they wish they weren't white.
