"What should I do?
It's a question that is so commonly seen in digital spaces where conversations about anti-racism are happening. White people, who may be well intentioned, run into the space to ask what they should do without critically reflecting upon their own white fragility and the implications of this question.
"Our nation's acceptable discourses of race are inextricably tied to normalized practices of racism and white supremacy" (Hooks)
The way white people talk about race will always benefit them due to the structures of white supremacy that our institutions were built on. Whiteness in America will always be benefitted, even if white folks engage in anti-racist discussion. Because of this, white activism is inherently performative, but in order to engage in this dialogue in a meaningful way, white folks must critical reflect upon and work through their white fragility to minimize harm in digital activist rhetorical spaces.
"Our nation's acceptable discourses of race are inextricably tied to normalized practices of racism and white supremacy" (Hooks)
The way white people talk about race will always benefit them due to the structures of white supremacy that our institutions were built on. Whiteness in America will always be benefitted, even if white folks engage in anti-racist discussion. Because of this, white activism is inherently performative, but in order to engage in this dialogue in a meaningful way, white folks must critical reflect upon and work through their white fragility to minimize harm in digital activist rhetorical spaces.
BACKGROUND
White Supremacy |
Anti-Racist |
"As long as this nation absolutely refuses to accurately name white supremacy, then the roots of racism will remain strong" (Hooks, 13).
Because white supremacy ideology is so institutionalized, "white supremacist thought is a foundation belief system in this nation" (Hooks p.11). This foundational belief system has built this nation, and it continues to impact society by advantaging white folks through unearned advantage (privilege). White supremacy ideology is so pervasive because not only do white folks uphold white supremacy ideology, but so do people of color who internalize white supremacy ideology through socialization. As Hooks states, it is imperative that we actively name white supremacy ideology so that we can find the root of racism and move towards a more humanizing world. Emotional LaborEmotional Labor is the emotional work that, in this context, Black folks conduct to educate and correct white folks on the racism that their ancestors created. The experience of microaggressions and racial trauma through dialoguing with white folks who have white fragility, there is an emotional burden shifted onto Black folks who engage in conversations about race.
White "allies" often shift the burden of emotional labor onto Black educators and creators by using rhetoric that is hurtful and damaging. "'The long-term stress of living in a dominated society 'weathers' blacks, making them age faster than their white counterparts'" (Ryan Blitstein, Hooks p 21). Racism and white supremacy ideology not only creates emotional labor but that stress in combination with other effects of white supremacy such as racism in health care, unequal access to healthy food, poverty, and more cause damaging health effects on marginalized communities, proving that "racism kills" (Hooks, p 21). Ijeoma Oluo writes on emotional labor that "I did not believe that women of color should be asked to put forth the emotional and mental labor of discussing their racial oppression to a majority white audience for free" (Oluo 228). This emotional labor of explaining the oppression that white people perpetuate to white people for free, especially in the digital space where microaggressions can be perpetuated without repercussion. |
"What's the problem with being 'not racist'? It is a claim that signifies neutrality: 'I am not a racist but neither am I aggressively against racism.' But there is no neutrality in the racism struggle. The opposite of racist isn't 'not racist.' It is 'antiracist'." (Kendi).
Kendi's definition of antiracism is "a powerful collection of antiracist policies that leads to racial equity and is substantiated by antiracist ideas (Kendi). Hooks establishes that we must be making "a conscious effort to change thought and action by honestly naming all the myriad of ways white supremacy impinges on daily life... [in order to] shift from a politics of hate and create a new foundation based on a revolution of love" (Hooks 12). If white folks are not being "actively anti-racist," they can perpetuate microaggressions which "triggers memories of trauma and fear" for Black folks who have experienced their own racial trauma and generational racial trauma. White FragilityWhite fragility is the outcome of white folks being morally object to racism but this "moral objection to racism increases their resistance to acknowledging their complicity with it" which leads to violent and aggressive self-defense (DiAngelo, 109). White folks who have unchecked white fragility often interact in dialogue which characterizes themselves "as victimized, slammed, blamed, and attacked" (DiAngelo, 109). White fragility manifests itself in dialogue as a violent language: "the use of this language of violence illustrates how fragile and ill-equipped most white people are to confront racial tensions, and their subsequent projection of this tension onto people of color" (DiAngelo, p 110). The projection of their own issues with white supremacy onto Black folks emphasizes how whiteness in anti-racist digital rhetorical spaces creates more emotional labor for Black folks. In order to enter the anti-racist digital rhetorical space, white folks must critically confront and reflect upon their white fragility.
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STOPPING OUR RACIST PATTERNS MUST BE MORE IMPORTANT THAN WORKING TO CONVINCE PEOPLE WE DON'T HAVE THEM. WE DO HAVE THEM, AND PEOPLE OF COLOR KNOW WE HAVE THEM; OUR EFFORT TO PROVE OTHERWISE ARE NOT CONVINCING.
(DIANGELO, 129)
Confronting your white fragility
"Unaware white folks who have not chosen to unlearn racism, who live most of their lives are generally decent and well-intentioned, have no idea the extent to which blacK people, across class, live with constant anxiety and/or fear that we will be the innocent targets of a random racist assault" (Hooks, p 11).
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Without actively addressing the internalized white supremacy ideology within themselves, white folks often hurt Black folks, regardless of good intentions. If a white person does not critically confront their own biases, behaviors, and impact of their actions within a society that centers whiteness through white supremacy ideology, their intention does not matter because the impact of actions can still perpetuate racism in these anti-racist conversations.
IMPACT > INTENT |
White Supremacy Ideology
"Ideology they assert is a fact of consciousness; the external body of the sign is merely a coating, merely a technical means for the realization of the inner effect, which is understanding” (Bhaktin)
Ideology and specifically white supremacy ideology is so normalized in Western society that it is not enough to just be not racist. One must actively unlearn the biases and prejudices that have been established through socialization; one must be actively anti-racist in the daily practice of unlearn the white supremacy ideology. The signs that are understood are a product of white supremacy ideology such as the lack of representation or demonized representation in media, education, and politics.
"This ideological chain stretches from individual consciousness to individual consciousness, connecting them together” (Bhaktin)
This expansion and the extent of white supremacy ideology is weaved throughout our society; it is what this country is built on. White supremacy ideology is so dangerous because it is both covert and overt; it is both outrageously obvious and simply normalized in the institutions built upon white supremacy. Because the ideological chain connects consciousnesses, there is a shift from focusing on the individual to the ideology and how each person connects to white supremacy ideology. So when some says that something is rooted in white supremacy ideology, this isn't an attack on the individual or the intent but it is focusing on the impact and the root of the issue.
Ideology and specifically white supremacy ideology is so normalized in Western society that it is not enough to just be not racist. One must actively unlearn the biases and prejudices that have been established through socialization; one must be actively anti-racist in the daily practice of unlearn the white supremacy ideology. The signs that are understood are a product of white supremacy ideology such as the lack of representation or demonized representation in media, education, and politics.
"This ideological chain stretches from individual consciousness to individual consciousness, connecting them together” (Bhaktin)
This expansion and the extent of white supremacy ideology is weaved throughout our society; it is what this country is built on. White supremacy ideology is so dangerous because it is both covert and overt; it is both outrageously obvious and simply normalized in the institutions built upon white supremacy. Because the ideological chain connects consciousnesses, there is a shift from focusing on the individual to the ideology and how each person connects to white supremacy ideology. So when some says that something is rooted in white supremacy ideology, this isn't an attack on the individual or the intent but it is focusing on the impact and the root of the issue.
"What should I do?"
This is the question that is asked so often that is asked before working through anti-racist education, naming white supremacy ideology impacts on biases and behaviors, and confronting white fragility in order to avoid using violent, reactionary language in anti-racist dialogue. This question causes emotional labor for Black folks because it shifts the burden of accountability from the white folks to unlearn their own racism and deconstruct the structures that benefit them to Black folks. This question is the epitome of not putting in the work and virtue signaling.
Instead of asking that question in the digital anti-racist space, allow that questioning to lead you to google or a book or a podcast that Black creators and educators have already created to answer this question. People have done the work. Now it is your turn to put in the work to seek out this work and learn from it.
Instead of asking that question in the digital anti-racist space, allow that questioning to lead you to google or a book or a podcast that Black creators and educators have already created to answer this question. People have done the work. Now it is your turn to put in the work to seek out this work and learn from it.