There is A Lot More Work to be Done

Are you tired yet? I have never thought about race this consistently and it’s barely even been two weeks.

It is exhausting.

I’m not looking for sympathy here but I do want to acknowledge that this is something I’ve never had to do before, my endurance for this type of work isn’t there. 

 Most young white Americans are probably like me and have never thought this consistently about race. The news cycle fatigue is already running its course. White Americans are saying to themselves, ok I marched, I donated, I signed the petitions, I posted a black square, I’m going to relax and go back to what I was doing before. I’m doing it too! I can already feel that message processing itself inside my head.

Lucky us right? We weren’t oppressed before, we get to say we participated, and we can stop and still not be oppressed. On top of that, it makes us feel good to be seen doing something ‘right’ and ‘good’ when we participate. I am not exempt from this thinking, even though I like to believe my intentions are in the right space with respect to ending systematic racism in America, it still feels good to be seen posting/talking about it on social media. 

The thing is, white people aren’t raised to think about our race. In America, white people are framed as the default, the ‘normal’, so everyone else is an ‘other’. If the conversation is about race, it’s always about what ‘other’ races have to go through. So being white is never explored in the same way being black is.

I don’t say this to shift focus - the focus should absolutely be on amplifying the black community right now - I bring this up because black people have to learn how to protect themselves from oppression, and learn about all the ways their community has been oppressed, whereas white people don’t learn about being the oppressors and how the system has developed to favor whiteness.

As white individuals, we also experience pressure to use our privilege for good and participate in this movement even though it’s not about us. Many of us know it’s the right thing to do so we go through all the motions - we march, we donate, we sign petitions, we re-post on social media, we talk to our families about it. 

But what a lot of people forget, including myself, is that by doing any of those things, we do not free ourselves from ever being racist in the future. Those acts don’t preclude future microaggressions, bad jokes, or missteps. And we are so quick on the defensive. If we make a racist comment, and someone calls us out on it, it’s so easy for us to use one of those temporary acts as a defense. “Well I can’t be racist because I marched.” “Don’t be silly, I donated 5k to black lives matter”. We use those acts as shields. Butit’s not a one and done thing. There is a huge, complex, system at work here, and we play a part in that.

Being a part of this kind of a movement is work. It’s hard work, and it’s long-term type work. Because you have to be willing to be constantly scrutinized by yourself and by others for your role in this system. 

Being white in America means that you will miss things. You won’t immediately understand why a certain comment, question, or joke was actually racist. And you need to be open to analyzing, discussing, apologizing, and correcting your mistakes when they arise. Because they will. 

I’ve personally been thinking about this a lot over the past weekend because I only just now have realized just how tiring it must be to be black in America. To constantly think about race. To constantly be worried about being profiled because of it. To be worried about the risk of violence because of it.

I said above that I’ve never thought about race for this long and coming to terms with the fact that if I want to truly help out here, I’m going to have to keep thinking about it is daunting. 

Frankly, emotion can only keep me going for so long on this issue, because I do not need to think about it every day. But in order to push for long term change, there is a need for long term pressure. Something that although I am not equipped for at the present, it is something I can train for.

If you’ve been keeping up here regularly, you know I’m a big, big fan of structure and systems for self improvement and achievement, and in this instance, I know I need to set up a system for myself in order to make any real progress here. 

Similarly to my article last week, link here if you care to take a gander, I still think education is one of the best things white people can do for themselves when it comes to this issue. And I don’t only mean researching black owned business, and reading articles on how to be anti-racist, I mean also doing some hardcore research into the systems that have shaped America and how they have contributed to racism and white privilege on our soil. On top of that, I’m going to focus my energy into a couple of areas to start, namely the school to prison pipeline since that’s an issue I feel much closer to. I’ve already set up recurring donations to Advancement Project which is hugely dedicated to ending this track as well. https://advancementproject.org/issues/stpp/

This is my system, and my system alone. Every other person who wants to affect this issue but has never practiced it regularly in the past should consider what system they could set up that would work for them. In my case, the system I outlined above is where I feel I can sustain the most long term work to start. It’s not a lot, but I have to start somewhere.