It's been over a year since I finished this antiracism project, and I find myself needing to add to it. Clearly I forgot some topics worth covering. So, here we will discuss the topic of white individuality, because too many of us are still not understanding why it's so damaging and unhelpful.
Why white People Must See Ourselves As A Collective
The only group of people in this nation allowed to see
themselves as individuals, is white people. We demand our individuality at
every possible turn. I’m not one of the ones who didn’t vote for Trump, I’m one
of the good ones, gosh darn it! And I should get credit for it! And I’ll make
sure to remind anybody I can, at any possible time, that I am in fact, one of
the good ones.--Does this sound and feel familiar to you?
Do you know that antiracists have to talk to white people
like this all day, every day? The extremely predictable arguments and demands
are cookie-cutter identical. Why? Because white people are a collective. We
think the same way, we argue the same way. But we think we’re clever and unique.
And yes, this applies to the liberal ones, too.
white people collectively elected Trump again last month.
Literally. The majority of us voted for him. That means that the minority of us
who did the work of trying to get Harris elected, failed. Why should we get
cookies or singled out as good for our failed efforts? We won’t dismantle white
supremacy by individual efforts, but with collective efforts.
There is no “us” and “them” when it comes to white people an
racism, there is only “us.” We collectively benefit from racism, and until we
collectively work to dismantle it, and actually dismantle it, our individual
efforts don’t mean anything. No cookies for me, or you.
Are you spending your time on social media arguing with
Black antiracists about this? Don’t lie, yes you are. You’ve been doing it all
day. You think you know the way to dismantle racism in this country, and
apparently it’s not seeing yourself in part of a larger collective, it’s in
arguing with people who actually experience racism as you try to get them to
change their minds so you don’t have to change yours. This is active racism and
you, the individual, are making it more difficult for us, the collective, to
end racism. You say you want to do the opposite, so why are you making it
worse?
