White supremacy just turned visible for me

[gwendally]

I've been listening in on a blog called "Black Girl in Maine". Most of the time it's helpful to hear another perspective: I had no idea that being black in Maine was so hard. But they know, and by listening I can learn

Comments

[9thmoon]

Republicans widely want to defend their way of life as the prevailing culture (not realising, I suppose, that they lost that battle long ago). For many, racism is a part of that culture, while for many more, racism is not a part of that culture as long as not-white people "act white" (in so far as adopting republican-style culture and lifestyles). That's my perception, anyway. It's hard not to be tone-deaf when you've got your head in the sand. (AMHIK)
I've been a minority one way or another (usually closer to six or eight ways) most of my life, so being a racial minority does not frighten me, but I can see why it would frighten people who treat racial minorities badly.
Bonus points to you for finally luring me back to Lj.

[gwendally]

I read you regularly on FB but with a sense of horror sometimes. "Oh no, she's talking about that stuff PUBLICLY!" I use my work identity there, and it just can't handle discussions about race, politics, religion, or controversial topics of any sort. I can post cute dog pictures, though.

But I've been wanting to talk to you about your experiences listening in on people talk about racism, so, yeah, please come back to LJ for that stuff!

[miss_ljv]

I kind of ONLY use Facebook for politics, interspersed with pictures of my life, but that is it. Lol.

[gwendally]

In my world, people talk publicly about boycotting businesses that don't share their religious or political viewpoints. It horrifies me as an American and a business owner and a Jew. It tends to be progressives on the fringe saying these things, but it's a fairly constant motif.

Also, good is the sworn enemy of these perfect people. There is no winning there.

[tjoel2]

That's so sad. I never understood how people could take one person and attribute those behaviors to an entire group of people. Human nature is far to diverse and fascinating to make that type of mistake!

[elenbarathi]

Here in the rural Pacific Northwest, there's no pretending that white supremacy isn't a 'thing', or that being anything other than Christian is socially acceptable. My daughter was brought up to never talk about her family's religion at school; I once had to go in and Explain at length to her 5th-grade teacher how asking her about it in class was a violation of her privacy that could expose her to severe stigma (as it had for several children we knew personally, and many more around the country

[crazyburro]

I sometimes think what we're seeing now is the white christians taking back the tiny bit of privilege they've been forced to relinquish to everyone else.

[miss_ljv]

YES

Explain please

[elenbarathi]

What do you conceive the nature of that privilege to be? The white christians are taking back their privilege, you say - privilege to do what exactly, and how were they forced to relinquish it?

[thenautical]

This is interesting for me to read as a white woman living in Maine for the last 6 years. I usually like a lot of the local "celebrities" but Black Girl in Maine has always bugged me for exactly the words and behavior you're talking about. It's always felt like yes, she is telling some of her own legitimate stories (which usually suck in terms of experiencing racism) but I don't think the answer is to bash white people in response. White supremacy is a very specific thing, propagated by a very specific set of people. Passive societal white racism embedded in our culture is a whole other thing. To call passive whites "supremacists" is to radicalize and villainize an entire group of people. And then to isolate them

[gwendally]

I was pretty pissed off about six months ago that someone called me out for not showing up for a BLM march but I was willing to show up for the Women's March. Because not marching for BLM meant I was a white supremacist? It degenerated into her accusing me of oppressing her with my white fragility, when she's the one that called ME out. (At the Women's March I held a sign saying, "all humans are equal, right?" - Not good enough an ally, though

[thenautical]

Love this part of what you said, "Instead, I'm being asked by ME to be the best ME I can be, for my own sake, so I'm trying to figure out where I contribute." - THIS IS SO GOOD.

This is EXACTLY what we should all be doing. If in every community there was someone wonderful like you and your sisterhood, who deliberately tried to improve diversity in their group, who deliberately tried to make friends with more people of color, and who reached out to their POC friends to support them... Neighborhood racism would be a thing of the past. Because we would all protect each other. We would all rally around our friends.

Basically, contributing to community locally and encouraging diversity in our own circles is something we should all do. It would truly improve the state of the world at large, and is really the only *real* active way to influence. Posting on FB and marching only goes so far. Counteracting racism is a daily grind in every small community.

Keep it up! Glad to hear about your group, that's so cool!

[merig00]

Well why do they believe that the White Christian society is the superior option? What other option are there to chose from?

Maybe they look around the world and see that in general countries that are based on white christian societies have religious freedom and rule of law and low levels of racism. And they say to themselves that's good enough and go on with their lives. Has anyone showed them a better option?

[gwendally]

A handy rule of thumb to keep yourself from some implicit biases is to task yourself with arguing the opposite. Can you think of any ways in which White Christian society isn't superior? Can you think of anybody who might find that a difficult system to live under? Why might they find it difficult to live under? And is it still superior if people find it difficult to live under? What would a better option look like? Could you improve on the options that you're aware of right now?

[merig00]

Oooh you can and should improve the society. Hence my "good enough" sentence. I can see of many ways and many people for whom White Christian society isn't superior. However, does that make it worse than anything else out there? It has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time. I'd argue same currently applies to White Crhistian society as a culture.

And I don't see anyone showing a better option