I've heard whispers that my generation is the next "Great Generation". There are very few ways that we can be negatively caricatured the way other generations can (at least for the time being). There is something I'm beginning to see that concerns me however.
Yes, I find my generation to be very informed and engaged with issues that actually matter. Yes, I find it to be the case that my generation is laboring toward issues of justice; whether they be racial, societal, or global.
What concerns me is that the same air of paternalism saturates the attitudes of many who look like me. We speak of unity, partnership, collaboration, reconciliation, but when it comes time for us to collaborate with each other we act pretentious. We act as if we're more enlightened than our white peers.
Perhaps some examples might help:
Hey, fellow hipsterish white guy who lives in our neighborhood: I see that you take time to greet everyone else on their stoop, but when you walk past my wife and I you ignore us. Even though I make eye contact and say warmly "how are you?" you keep rolling by like I'm begging you for money. I'm sorry, I didn't know I stole your thunder for being the great white hope of the block you pompous douche!
Oh, and PS, there's more than one of you.
I've been passionate the last year and half about issues of race relations in our country. It became important to me first because of a man named Dr. Al Tizon who spoke about urban/suburban partnerships and issues of racial reconciliation and the new trend of urban gentrification. More recently I attended the YWCA Racial Justice Initiative.
Through those mediums I've been able to have conversations about race with people of color without consequence. I talk to the guys at Champs, the folks at C-town, and my neighbors about these issues, and I'm often surprised when they invite me into their experience. At the Racial Justice Initiatives our talks began with us granting permission to feel uncomfortable, permission to say "ouch" whenever someone’s toes have been stepped on, and permission to make mistakes.
For some reason though, I can't have a conversation with other white folks in their 20's about race. It becomes a competition of who's less racist. Everything becomes about wagging a righteous finger for not being as informed. Are we really that afraid of our ignorance being discovered that we have to one up each other? This is the worst kind of delusion: believing that it's our responsibility to correct others while being blind to our own prejudice. Another example...
In a group setting, an African American woman speaks of her deep hurt and self hatred, and some of the resentment she felt toward Caucasians at times. A young white woman my age says to her:
"Can I challenge you on something? You need to get over that hurt. You need to put that behind you and move on with your life. I had things in my past that hurt. I once was where you are, but I put those things behind me."
Really, you know what it's like to be an African American woman in a racist society? REALLY? You just put the hurt behind you? It's just that simple?
As John Oliver says:
"If you're wondering how many balls it takes to say something like that... it takes three balls!"
In the same way, when I bring up issues of race with other white folks, I get corrected with cliché’s addressing issues of race that in themselves are incredibly ignorant and racist! As if even bringing up the subject amongst white company is a social racist foul. Why do we feel the need to put this topic out of our minds and discussions?
If you feel the need to establish yourself as someone who isn't racist in order to squelch the conversation and alleviate your guilt, than perhaps you ought to look within yourself before correcting others. If you feel the need to correct the racism in others as if you're not a part of systemic racism, than you need to come to terms with your duality.
Me? I know I have racist tendencies simply because of the cultural cues I've absorbed (some consciously and some subconsciously). It's not beyond me or any other person of privilege, and I need a community of diverse people to extract it. I need a person to show me where I have bought into the societal lie that privilege does not exist for those with lighter skin.
The worst kind of prejudice are those who enjoy their privileges while insisting they do not have them, and insisting they're not a part of the problem.
Therefore, my pretentious peers, you and are in the same boat. We have a legacy of hatred and oppression going back generations. We are intricately connected to that legacy. We knowingly or unknowingly participate in those systems daily. Just because you denounce racism does not make you incapable of it. And just because I want to talk to you about it doesn't mean you have to assume I need to be enlightened.
No comments:
Post a Comment