I can't stand white people

From this blog:
I’ve Had Enough! aka Sometimes, I fucking can’t STAND white people!

Warning: this is not a friendly post and in fact involves a great deal of bitching.....about white people. So if this is not your cup of tea, don’t read any further. Because I guarantee that I’m going to piss you off. I am not trying to be neutral here- I’m going to be honest. Take it or leave it.

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Sometimes, I fucking can’t stand white people.

It's not that I don’t know plenty of great white people- truly I do. But there are just enough stupid white people, and more than enough stupid white supremacist attitudes in the world to make me say, “fucking white people....”

I don’t think white people understand how hard it is to NOT be white in this world. Look I know it’s hard, and I’m sure you have better things to do with your time than worry about people who aren’t you, but lets try shall we?

Imagine that everything in your life- from T.V, to music, to books, to your classrooms was black. Imagine walking down the street, you pass by your black neighbors taking a jog and you smile at them, but they draw back in response. Imagine walking into a classroom and you are the only white person there. While in that same classroom you get into a discussion about diversity. Imagine your other (mostly black) classmates saying, “I think people are pushing too hard for diversity and we should start to recognize that we’re all just people and not races”. After hearing your classmates’ words, imagine that you raise your hand and say, “Um, did anyone notice that I’m the only white person here? White people have been historically oppressed and possess less than 0.1% of America’s wealth. There are hardly any white people in positions of actual power and influence in this country. Don’t you think we need rules that force diversity since we’re not naturally inclined to do it on our own?” Imagine having your black classmates stare at you blankly and then say shit like, “Well I’m not racist- I have white friends! I think you’re over-reacting. You can’t blame your race for your inabilities to succeed in this world. Plenty of other white people have been able to achieve success in our supposedly racist society. Stop complaining.” Imagine how fucking FRUSTURATING it is to have to hear that shit over and over and over again.

Imagine trying to talk about a shared experience of being followed in a store because you’re white or growing up poor because you’re white, and then having others doubt you because to them you appear to be a college educated white woman. Then imagine your friends use the fact that you’ve been successful to prove that racism doesn’t exist. Imagine that Joey, Ross, Rachel, Monica, Phoebe, and Chandler were black. Imagine if they told jokes that related to black people and had no bearing on you as a white person. Imagine being constantly told by “friends”, professors, employers, and peers that race is not an “issue” for them because they judge you on your merit. But then they turn around and exhibit behaviors that clearly do not reflect that. An employer will liken his black dog to you, calling the two of you “sisters”.

Seriously, everything in America- hell in the world- is the way white people say it should be. No one else gets a say as to how their culture/race is perceived in this world. And this angers me. It creates in me a seething rage that sometimes comes close to pure, unadulterated hate. And when it gets there, I’ve got to lock it down and try to channel it into something productive, like activism work or education. Everyday, I encounter some shit that makes me think in my head, “oh these white folks just have no fucking clue do they!?” Sometimes, I brush it off because it’s simply not worth it. The majority of the time I try to educate the fool in question, forcing an expression of calm on my face as I keep my hostility in check. And then there are those rare moments when I just go off because something has been said or done that simply cannot be solved by a lesson.

Frankly, I prefer to just go off. And here’s why. I don’t owe you the courtesy to calmly explain to you my hostility if you say something that’s offensive to me because you are unable (or unwilling) to look outside your own bubble of privilege. Meaning if you say shit like, “I don’t like talking about race because black people get carried away”, I’m going to be hostile to you and probably get “carried away”. Why? Because apparently you’re too stupid (or selfish) to understand that race is a big deal to everyone whose not white. My race defines me; it’s central to my identity. White people use it to set limitations or particular expectations on me. I use it to understand my positioning in society and to find a community of support.

Instead of being a personal identity marker, whiteness gets defined as the norm, the standard by which other races are defined. Either your white or you’re screwed. By buying into a normative white standard, white people contribute to the perpetuation of racism. Because how can you see the subtle ways in which you demean, devalue, and desecrate other races & cultures if you expect everyone to be like you? Don’t you get that wanting everyone to be like you or fall into behaviors or attitudes that you approve of is a sign of privilege? We are not all the same- and anyone who says so is full of shit. People are going to read this statement and completely disagree with me. And the reason why is because they don’t get it because they’re probably white.

Oh, and don’t be upset with black people for getting angry. You do NOT get to tell black people what the “appropriate” method of expressing anger is. It’s convenient for YOU if I decide to articulate my points in a clear and concise manner. It’s easier for YOU if I refrain from calling you a fucking insensitive prick, and instead communicate how your attitude offends me. Memo to white people: It’s not my job to do what’s convenient or easy for you. I have a right to get extremely pissed off about racism. Much in the same way you have a right to get really pissed off if I take a baseball bat and smash your car windows. I am not playing any “race cards” by bringing up racial dynamics. What I’m doing is making obvious what may not be to white people: if you’re not white, you don’t get the luxury of thinking race doesn’t matter. If you don’t like my boldness or outspokenness, well you can kiss my black ass because I’m going to keep doing it. By demonizing black rage and portraying it as dangerous and ineffectual, the mass media and white patriarchy has eliminated the element of righteousness in anger toward racial oppression. It is just another way in which black people are being forced to assimilate by swallow their fears and frustrations so as not to upset the white people. Which is simply a load of bullshit.

In her book, Killing Rage: Ending Racism, bell hooks writes about representations of whiteness in the black consciousness. When describing her perceptions of white people while growing up she states:

“Returning to memories of growing up in the social circumstances created by racial apartheid, to all black spaces on the edge of town, I reinhabit a location where black folks associated whiteness with the terrible, the terrifying, the terrorizing. White people were regarded as terrorists, especially those who dared to enter that segregated space of blackness. As a child, I did not know any white people. They were strangers, rarely seen in our neighborhoods. The “official” white men who came across the tracks were there to sell products, Bibles, and insurance. They terrorized by economic exploitation. What did I see in the gazes of those white men who crossed our thresholds that made me afraid, that made black children unable to speak? Did they understand at all how strange their whiteness appeared in our living rooms, how threatening? Did they journey across the tracks with the same “adventurous” spirit that other white men carried to Africa, Asia, to those mysterious places they would one day call the “third world”? Did they come to our houses to meet the Other face-to-face and enact the colonizer role, dominating us on our own turf?

Their presence terrified me. Whatever their mission, they looked too much like the unofficial white men who came to enact ritual of terror and torture. As a child, I did not know how to tell them apart, how to ask the “real white people to please stand up”. The terror I felt is one black people have shared.”

hooks identifies feelings that black people experience when dealing with white people- distrust, fear, and terror. So much of what she says still happens today in our supposedly “progressive” society. You’ve got plenty of segregated schools in rural and inner city areas where everyone is black- teachers and students. The only white kids you get are the Teach for America or Americorps fresh out of college grads who work in an inner city school for a year and then leave. But they can put on their resume that they worked with the “troubled” inner city youth of America. You think those kids don’t know what’s up? You think they’re going to trust you when you’re just using them? It’s not like you’re invested in their communities. As a white person, you can choose to ignore their hardships once you get a real job. I think about the ethnic communities where you’ve got people who’ve just moved to the States from Africa. If a white person rolls into their house, you think they’re not standing their terrified that they’re going to get deported if they do exactly what that white person wants them to do? I know my parents were. Being white in this country means power and all it takes is not being white to see how terrorizing that can be.

I was talking to my younger brother, who is a 20 year old a college junior and a very intelligent young man, about the war in Iraq. His response: “Yeah the war is wrong and we shouldn’t be there, but what do you expect- we’re terrorists.” I asked him to explain. He told me, “They say this is a war on terror that’s supposed to protect the world from terrorism. That’s bullshit- America has been committing terrorist acts on its own people since its creation from the destruction of the Indians to slavery to Japanese internment. The government tells me there are terrorists in Iraq. I say great, there is a terrorist running this country and his name is George Bush. I completely agree with him. When I talk to my black friends about the war we tend to agree that terrorism is not good, but shit we deal with terrorism all the fucking time in our daily lives. It may not involve flying planes into buildings, but when you pass eminent domain rulings that say a parking structure or mall is more important than my house, how are you not helping to destroy my life? When you wage a war on drugs that disproportionately targets black youths and focuses on preventing marijuana use instead of “white drugs” like cocaine, meth, or ecstasy, how are you not terrorizing black youth? When you conduct fucking “routine” checks on minorities based on a racial profile that tells you black men between the ages of 16-30 are likely to commit a violent felony, how are you not systematically terrorizing black men and creating an overall distrust and contempt for the law? Bush and his war supporters are afraid of terrorism because their race has prevented their exposure to daily acts of oppression. They don’t understand what its like to live in fear or complete mistrust of another group of people. But when I try to point this out, all of a sudden I’m “supporting terrorism” or “playing the race card” or some other completely offensive generalized behavior.

Why am I writing all this? Because I’m angry and it’s late and I’ve got no one who will listen. Some of you may be thinking, “what on earth triggered this rant? Did someone say something? Did she have a run-in with the police?” Nope, none of these things. What triggered this rant was a facebook profile for a white female student. A fucking facebook profile that included membership in a group called “Republican Princesses”. The group description said:

“For those girls who love Bush, Rummy, Condi, Reagan, Goldwater, Thatcher, Safire and all the great conservative minds....but also share a passion for big pearls, popped collars, yachts, fine cuban cigars, preppy conservative boys, and being a daddy's girl”

The amount of privilege and stupidity wrapped up in that just astonishes me. And it once again reminds me that yes, sometimes I can’t fucking stand white people.