Whiteness: The Not So Silent Killer
an excerpt from the book “I’ve Just Got These Words, Fam…” (2016)
Preface: A former classmate and friend was working on a piece for her grad research. In the midst of said work a question was posed… a question I’d never gotten before, “What is Whiteness to you?” My response took a couple days, as I felt that it was important to get it right and cover as much as I could in a palatable sized statement. This was the first time a white person has ever asked for my thoughts on “whiteness” and as it was asked by someone I trusted would actually listen and be receptive I figured I had a responsibility to get it right. I’ve been on this globe for over thirty years and the question was new to me, which makes me sure that most won’t have this opportunity, I had to answer for them too.
Disclaimer: When I speak about “Whiteness” I’m not speaking on a micro level, nor am I attacking white people. I don’t hate white people (I feel like I’ve had to say this to the few Caucasians I’ve allowed to see this so far, even people I’ve considered friends for years). I recognize fully that all whites don’t necessary subscribe to the ideals of “whiteness,” they do however all benefit from them. It’s the reason Al Sharpton is viewed and an irrational troublemaker while Tim Wise makes a great guest speaker.
“We sit in the shade of trees we did not plant” — Rev. Peter Raible
Whiteness, and the privilege it assures, is the least reported killer of perceived minorities internationally and has unrelentingly defended that distinction predating Columbus’ “discovery of “The New World.” The hubris laden idea of racial supremacy is one of the reasons almost every American history class begins once he and his team planted three ships on the New World. That idea has also, over time, crushed a bevy of African superpowers, massacred entire West Indian indigenous populations, slaughtered over six million Jews across several nations in Europe (because they weren’t white enough), tore apart families and relocated millions of Africans to a life of servitude and now asserts that equal access to housing, healthcare, freedom of religion, political access, marriage definition and even the right to walk through your father’s neighborhood with a pack of skittles are privileges — not rights.
Whiteness is the ability to never have to question one’s place in the world and the exclusive ability to define the roles of others. I can assure you that this isn’t a reality for most melanin bearers as most of us, especially in North America are constantly quizzed on our reasons for action, location, intentions, etc and usually find ourselves in places where we must prove we belong. We are seen and taught to see ourselves (through your words, actions, laws and educational curriculum) as the existential other…
Whiteness is loving black culture but hating the people that live it. “They want black without the skin tone, which ultimately sets the tone of how colorless their culture is.” — L. H. Gilliam
Do you know that Twerking is by no means new phenomena? That it isn’t simply a Miley Cyrus innovation? Twerking pre-dates Uncle Luke and the 2 Live Crew, and these guys were rapping in the late 80’s. The international fervor that arose when people began spasming over house beats and attributing that to Harlem is disrespectful to Black America’s cultural Mecca, stains the perception of a place that is known for creating art through literature, music, film, on canvas et al — slapping the Harlem tag on that foolishness simply brings down the property values — it also ignores the fact that about a full decade earlier Diddy and his stable of Bad Boy artists brought Harlem’s genuine version of their already popular dance, the one with rhythm, to the television screen.
Whiteness, through gentrification, constantly displaces brown faces (usually to the same southern states their ancestors once fled) and destroys communities. This is one of reasons that Brooklyn is almost unrecognizable and in very few ways the same place culturally as it was a decade ago. It’s moving into Fort Green then calling the cops on Jazz musicians that have been having jam sessions there for decades. Yearning to live in urban communities but actively stomping out said community’s soul. Claiming to love the area but detesting her people; moving to (insert city here) but clutching your purse whenever a brown face enters your periphery…
Briefly; white privilege offers the ability to feel badly about a minority groups suffering but never see your part in it, ethical blindfolds if you will. The ability to assert loudly that black kids don’t learn because their parents don’t instill the right values, while completely ignoring that your schools (schools with a majority white population) allocated their funding for better school books while inner city schools have thrown that line item (in many cases unnecessarily) into security. Also ignoring that if you condition a child to think they’re a criminal through metal detectors, heavy police presence, chains and bars on doors and windows, they’ll probably never have the same attitude to — or value for — education that you do.
White America; do you know that there are men who have altered their workout schedules in order to not make you uncomfortable? Men that have publicly confessed to not running at night so they aren’t perceived as threats? Are you aware that those sporting black and brown faces have a go through a very specific ritual when pulled over by the police? Hand on the dash, no sudden movements, very careful to announce our every fear laced twitch. Have you considered why we have an (I’ve heard) irrational fear of authority? Maybe it’s the fact that we’ve grown accustomed to seeing people like us in almost every age group publicly frisked, arrested and in too many cases slain with no regard, no explanation and no investigation. Yes we all saw, and were scarred by the Trayvon Martin case, but at least his killer was eventually forced into a trial. Speaking of which, I’ve heard much discussion about Zimmerman’s race and how “white privilege” can’t be considered a factor, to which I propose a question; has a white victim’s family ever had to publicly appeal to a judge to try their kid’s killer? Is that something we see regularly? If, on the off chance there is such a precedent, how often have the suspects been the police; Kimani Gray (16, unarmed and shot 7 times in NYC), Kendrec McDade (19, unarmed and killed in Pasadena FL), Timothy Russell (53, unarmed but his car was shot 153 times resulting in his death). How would you feel knowing that even those sworn to protect you view your lives meaningless.
Again, these aren’t issues I blame whites for, the fact of the matter is though that these are merely a minute fraction of the issues I have with “whiteness” as a whole. Whiteness is an erupting volcano which destroys all hope for fairness, minorities are burdened with concerns, fears, physiological deficiencies that most Caucasians will never think to consider. I ask simply that you are aware of it. I’m three pages into a response I was hoping would be shorter; I’ve said nothing about the school to prison pipelines, media empires owned by mostly white faces daily controlling how we are viewed, disproportionate arrests, disproportionate treatment and punishment upon arrest, economical ramifications for being a minority and how all these things affect one’s opinion on themselves and people they are surrounded by. I didn’t speak to not being able to assure my cousins and nephews that they’d never be seen as threats — “imposing,” “suspicious,” “looming.” Haven’t spoken to personally harrowing experiences based on whiteness, profiling that I can guarantee will also befall my future offspring. The emotional effects of always knowing it’s your world and we’re simply struggling to live in it.
