My fellow whites,
We need to have a discussion, collectively, about our idea of "nice." What makes a person nice, and why do we tend to overlook problematic issues in a person, if we perceive them to be nice? Particularly, if that person is white like us?
"Nice" is used as a synonym for kind, funny, polite, or pleasant. We call well-mannered people "nice" and think that as long as they don't make a public spectacle of themselves, then that's all they need to be considered "nice," or a good person. Not upsetting the status quo, is nice.
This concept of "nice" is what helps liberal white people remain friends or admirers of right wing whites who work hard to harm so many others. We will overlook it, because it's not our lives they're trying to harm. A person who spent his life advocating taking rights away from others so white people can remain in control, will be mourned when he passes, because white people thought he was also funny, or well-mannered in public. We will overlook the harm done to others, and focus on the superficial elements. This is white supremacy. Literally. Objectivity, fear of open conflict, right to comfort, and defensiveness. All of those elements of white supremacy can be found in our insistence of looking at the superficial and ignoring the harm.
A person who spends his life working to harm others, isn't nice. Or kind, or polite or pleasant. He is the exact opposite, and he should be thought of, and remembered, as such.
I think there's an even deeper reason we think of other whites as nice. It's a reason none of us wants to admit to, but it's absolutely there. It's because, as much as we demand our individuality, and think of ourselves as not part of a greater collective, we see ourselves in each other. A part of us sees ourselves in the harmful white people, and so when something bad happens to them, we can't help but be afraid that it could happen to us, too. So we want to put positivity out there, in case it ever is visited back upon us. We know this person doesn't deserve being thought of in such positive ways, but we can't help it, because of our own personal selfishness. We really are that self-centered. The funny thing is, we're self-centered simultaneously, collectively.
So, let's start rethinking who we deem "nice" and what we choose to overlook in them, and why that might be. We need to think more about who is being harmed by "nice" people, and put their needs and feelings above those of our own selfishness. Because that's what is actually nice...
