A lot of white people assume “white supremacy” only applies to crooked cops and men in white robes or red hats, but in reality it’s carried out every day all over the country, by people all over the political spectrum, even if it’s subtle or its benefactors aren’t employing it consciously. It’s important to note that Amy Cooper is a registered democrat who donated to Obama.
I ashamed to say that until very recently I always felt the need to appear “woke” for the reasons of BIPOC seeing me as a good ally. It’s the wrong motive and it doesn’t actually work. Confronting my own racism has been uncomfortable, but framing it as an eagerness to learn rather than an eagerness to please has been transformative. Thank you for perfectly describing the path of maturity towards this topic that so many white people regrettably need. May we all do better.
I'm brazilian and in the last couple of years I realized the impact of imperialism throughout my life. American culture was(is) everywhere. I started reading Latin American authors a couple years ago. I hate that! I read Angela Davis' Women, Race and Class (amazing!) but I didn't read Lélia Gonzalez, for exemple, which is the reference when coming to black culture and racism in Brazil. So, my suggestion is to read/listen/watch/etc what people from the margins of capitalism are producing. I really do believe that the change to a post-capitalist society will rise from these places.
I’m sure I won’t be the only one to mention this, but Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race, by Reni Eddo-Lodge, was eye-opening. It’s written in an accessible way but it’s not less poignant because of it. I think it’s interesting because sometimes in Europe there’s a tendency to believe racist issues and police brutality are a US thing, and we’re sophisticated and well educated, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Reni explores the colonialist (and shockingly recent) past of the UK and how they were instrumental in slavery, and how that still permeates today’s society.
Hi Haley. I've had a lot of conversations recently with friends discussing our similar concerns with regard to optical allyship. I agree that we should be concerned about equating posting with real action. However, I read a tweet that really stuck with me (I can't find it so I'm going to summarize): "Posting online is visible but not impactful enough. Doing the work in your day to day life is impactful but not visible enough. They must be done together."
Any time I feel self-conscious about posting online because it might be perceived as performative, I interrogate that pang of guilt and make sure that I am doing everything in my power to back that up with real action: making calls to local officials, supporting protestors monetarily, supporting black businesses, educating myself and paying the black teachers I learn from, having those conversations with friends and family. I know I won't always get it right. I know I will be wrong a lot and have been already. I know I have so much more to do. But I don't want to let the fear of not doing this perfectly paralyze me from not doing enough. And if posting online helps even a little bit, it still seems worthwhile as one type of action.
I say all this not because I don't think you feel the same but because I deeply resonate with your reservations and this is how I have come to terms with them. I can't feel self-conscious if I am engaging in direct action in as many ways as I can in addition to being visible.
This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color is a feminist anthology edited by Cherríe Moraga and Gloria E. Anzaldúa. Nickle and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich. And I was blown away reading analyses of the Rodney King LA uprising in college.
Thanks for sharing all of these amazing resources. Sharing in hopes you can make one small inclusion going forward -- in listing names it's very important to include Black trans names. It is really important to include Tony McDade and Nina Pop in these conversations!
It is vital for white people to educate other white people on racism. It is not easy or fun but it has to be done. Black people is dealing with this on an emotional and personal level and it is honestly very hard to deal with educating white folks while we struggle to stay alive.
The only thing I would like to recommend is that *please* don't let this be a just one thing. If you can, if you feel that is useful, please consume and share black people's content. Keep sharing articles and books on these issues even after this is "over". Please share content from latinx creators and writers.
I see great recommendations on the comments and many people can benefit from reading them. Thank you for offering this platform for white people to speak to other white people and share their thoughts.
Thank you so much for this writing Haley! As a white, privately educated person, I do not feel I have the authority and perspective to judge this newsletter as "the right thing to do". But, also as a white person, this is the first piece that has put into words so well what "navigating the waters of what "the right thing to do" actually is" feels like, whilst emphasising that it inevitably implies accepting that it constantly changes and demands the discomfort of continually calling ourselves into question. The first piece that made the latter clear to me was Judith Butlers' "Endangered/Endangering: schematic racism and white paranoia" on the reading/framing of Rodney King's blackness as a danger endangering him to the point of his death (from 1993, still true in 2020...). The second is indispensable in 99% of first year sociology programmes and should be for most people: Frantz Fanon's "The Wretched of the Earth", at least the first, incredibly powerful chapter (from 1961, just as true today...). Whether we want to admit it or not, I believe any white person has been guilty of white paranoia and needs to be made conscious of the the unconscious lightness, in all senses of the word, of their skin color. These readings did it for me.
Thank you for sharing, Haley! I am a sociologist who occasionally teaches classes on race/ethnicity, and two books I always like to assign my undergraduate students are “When Affirmative Action was White” by Ira Katznelson and “How the Irish became White” by Noel Ignatiev. In order to fully grasp the power, persistence, and pervasiveness of white supremacy in this country, it is important to understand how the very category of “white” is constructed and maintained, and how deeply entwined it is with capitalism and post-war social policy. Howard Zinn’s book covers some of this, too. And for people who prefer audio over reading, the Scene on the Radio podcast has a great series on this topic called “Seeing White”.
Haley, thank you so much for this email. Literally as you pressed send, I was talking to a friend about the frustration I feel about the policing and pressure right now to post about racism on social media. I was finding it difficult to disentangle that frustration from the fact that I do care about what is going on and the overwhelming feeling that this issue is so much larger (i.e. tied up in political institutions and capitalism) than those social media posts make it seem. This newsletter really helped untie that knot and gave me a clearer way forward. Thank you so much.
A book, or the compilation of awesome essays that has changed my world view (or at least my niche) is Trick Mirror by Jia Tolentino. Especially the first few chapters. Great read Haley!!! I always dread opening my inbox except when maybe baby’s around.
Thank you for this. Finally something honest...I'm tired of the sudden 'shocked' wokeness (don't people realize how much that says about themselves?). A piece of writing that changed how I think is actually one of the greatest books ever written: Beloved by Toni Morrison... Also the NY Times 1619 podcast.
I ashamed to say that until very recently I always felt the need to appear “woke” for the reasons of BIPOC seeing me as a good ally. It’s the wrong motive and it doesn’t actually work. Confronting my own racism has been uncomfortable, but framing it as an eagerness to learn rather than an eagerness to please has been transformative. Thank you for perfectly describing the path of maturity towards this topic that so many white people regrettably need. May we all do better.
I'm brazilian and in the last couple of years I realized the impact of imperialism throughout my life. American culture was(is) everywhere. I started reading Latin American authors a couple years ago. I hate that! I read Angela Davis' Women, Race and Class (amazing!) but I didn't read Lélia Gonzalez, for exemple, which is the reference when coming to black culture and racism in Brazil. So, my suggestion is to read/listen/watch/etc what people from the margins of capitalism are producing. I really do believe that the change to a post-capitalist society will rise from these places.
I’m sure I won’t be the only one to mention this, but Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race, by Reni Eddo-Lodge, was eye-opening. It’s written in an accessible way but it’s not less poignant because of it. I think it’s interesting because sometimes in Europe there’s a tendency to believe racist issues and police brutality are a US thing, and we’re sophisticated and well educated, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Reni explores the colonialist (and shockingly recent) past of the UK and how they were instrumental in slavery, and how that still permeates today’s society.
Hi Haley. I've had a lot of conversations recently with friends discussing our similar concerns with regard to optical allyship. I agree that we should be concerned about equating posting with real action. However, I read a tweet that really stuck with me (I can't find it so I'm going to summarize): "Posting online is visible but not impactful enough. Doing the work in your day to day life is impactful but not visible enough. They must be done together."
Any time I feel self-conscious about posting online because it might be perceived as performative, I interrogate that pang of guilt and make sure that I am doing everything in my power to back that up with real action: making calls to local officials, supporting protestors monetarily, supporting black businesses, educating myself and paying the black teachers I learn from, having those conversations with friends and family. I know I won't always get it right. I know I will be wrong a lot and have been already. I know I have so much more to do. But I don't want to let the fear of not doing this perfectly paralyze me from not doing enough. And if posting online helps even a little bit, it still seems worthwhile as one type of action.
I say all this not because I don't think you feel the same but because I deeply resonate with your reservations and this is how I have come to terms with them. I can't feel self-conscious if I am engaging in direct action in as many ways as I can in addition to being visible.
This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color is a feminist anthology edited by Cherríe Moraga and Gloria E. Anzaldúa. Nickle and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich. And I was blown away reading analyses of the Rodney King LA uprising in college.
Thanks for sharing all of these amazing resources. Sharing in hopes you can make one small inclusion going forward -- in listing names it's very important to include Black trans names. It is really important to include Tony McDade and Nina Pop in these conversations!
The End of Policing by Alex Vitale, which is free to download from Verso Books right now! https://www.versobooks.com/books/2817-the-end-of-policing
I am also very glad that you now have this space.
It is vital for white people to educate other white people on racism. It is not easy or fun but it has to be done. Black people is dealing with this on an emotional and personal level and it is honestly very hard to deal with educating white folks while we struggle to stay alive.
The only thing I would like to recommend is that *please* don't let this be a just one thing. If you can, if you feel that is useful, please consume and share black people's content. Keep sharing articles and books on these issues even after this is "over". Please share content from latinx creators and writers.
I see great recommendations on the comments and many people can benefit from reading them. Thank you for offering this platform for white people to speak to other white people and share their thoughts.
so many life-changing authors: Audre Lorde, Henri LeFebvre, Marx, Engels, David Harvey, Mike Davis
thank you for using your platform to talk about this!
Thank you so much for this writing Haley! As a white, privately educated person, I do not feel I have the authority and perspective to judge this newsletter as "the right thing to do". But, also as a white person, this is the first piece that has put into words so well what "navigating the waters of what "the right thing to do" actually is" feels like, whilst emphasising that it inevitably implies accepting that it constantly changes and demands the discomfort of continually calling ourselves into question. The first piece that made the latter clear to me was Judith Butlers' "Endangered/Endangering: schematic racism and white paranoia" on the reading/framing of Rodney King's blackness as a danger endangering him to the point of his death (from 1993, still true in 2020...). The second is indispensable in 99% of first year sociology programmes and should be for most people: Frantz Fanon's "The Wretched of the Earth", at least the first, incredibly powerful chapter (from 1961, just as true today...). Whether we want to admit it or not, I believe any white person has been guilty of white paranoia and needs to be made conscious of the the unconscious lightness, in all senses of the word, of their skin color. These readings did it for me.
Thank you for sharing, Haley! I am a sociologist who occasionally teaches classes on race/ethnicity, and two books I always like to assign my undergraduate students are “When Affirmative Action was White” by Ira Katznelson and “How the Irish became White” by Noel Ignatiev. In order to fully grasp the power, persistence, and pervasiveness of white supremacy in this country, it is important to understand how the very category of “white” is constructed and maintained, and how deeply entwined it is with capitalism and post-war social policy. Howard Zinn’s book covers some of this, too. And for people who prefer audio over reading, the Scene on the Radio podcast has a great series on this topic called “Seeing White”.
Haley, thank you so much for this email. Literally as you pressed send, I was talking to a friend about the frustration I feel about the policing and pressure right now to post about racism on social media. I was finding it difficult to disentangle that frustration from the fact that I do care about what is going on and the overwhelming feeling that this issue is so much larger (i.e. tied up in political institutions and capitalism) than those social media posts make it seem. This newsletter really helped untie that knot and gave me a clearer way forward. Thank you so much.
A book, or the compilation of awesome essays that has changed my world view (or at least my niche) is Trick Mirror by Jia Tolentino. Especially the first few chapters. Great read Haley!!! I always dread opening my inbox except when maybe baby’s around.
Thank you for this. Finally something honest...I'm tired of the sudden 'shocked' wokeness (don't people realize how much that says about themselves?). A piece of writing that changed how I think is actually one of the greatest books ever written: Beloved by Toni Morrison... Also the NY Times 1619 podcast.
White Girls by Hilton Als! Read it, it’s a beautiful book
"The Fire Next Time" by James Baldwin, "Liberalism: A Counter-History" by Domenico Losurdo (https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/51b0/41b2458dd361878fc407d5fc50070863968b.pdf?_ga=2.232942743.866923438.1590962730-824162085.1590566213), and "The Wretched of the Earth" by Frantz Fanon