Amerikkka Is Not Only Racist, It Also Lacks Depth
There is something that can be said about how this country is gravely out of touch with its own humanity. In America, luxury and comfortability are prioritized over health during a pandemic, the burning of buildings over dead black bodies, pride in its founding principles over amelioration, and personal success over community equity. America is indeed racist, but it’s also been apathetic, complacent, silent, indifferent, and passive for far too long. An equally disconcerting truth has come to light in this country. It lacks depth.
Many white Americans feel that they’ve done the work, once they aren’t performing and promoting racist behaviors and ideologies. They make it their mission to remind America that whiteness and adversity aren’t exclusive. Yet, when the innocence of black men, black women, black trans folk, and black non-binary people are consistently stolen by the hands of law enforcement, where are our white counterparts? If we all took away the same lessons from our degrees of personal adversity in America, then the white nationalist movement would be dismantled by the widespread mobilization of white allyship for the protection and conscious care of the black body. Your life may have had a few challenges, but your own adversity means nothing if it hasn’t elevated your consciousness and made you a bigger champion for humanity.
“Doing the work” or unpacking and unlearning rather is not only adopting anti-racist theory, it is soul work. If your first thought in response to seeing black people defend their humanity is to tweet that All Lives Matter, then your deep-seated issues stem from your biggest misguided sense of self, your ego. Your insecurities and lack of self-worth are showing. A real white supremacist would be unbothered by the statement that black lives matter because they would truly find comfort and security in their belief that they are a higher being. There are no real white supremacists in this country though, just a flock of shallow people whose ego’s are crying out for help and craving attention.
America isn’t a country built on gratitude, it’s one that breeds entitlement. This entitlement is evident in the countless white celebrities who pay standardized testing proctors to sway the SAT test scores of their kids, the white folks who call the police on black people for literally existing, white protestors who rallied against health measures mandated to keep them safe during the COVID-19 health pandemic, and white conservatives who preach that affirmative action is creating a disparity in opportunity for white people. A huge part of recognizing one’s privilege includes practicing gratitude for the opportunities, luxuries, and access that you have been afforded. The gratitude makes it apparent that there is a distinction between your life and experience, and the livelihood and experiences of others. White people aren’t the least bit grateful for not having to experience institutional racism, violence, and oppression during their lifetime because if they were their contribution to the fight would come with the understanding that in this system what comes as a benefit to them, comes at a cost to us.
I know many of us are calling on our white friends, colleagues, and family to pull up to this fight, but the reality is that many of them are broken. It’s time white America has had some difficult self-reflective conversations with itself. If black people can find a way to heal ourselves through colonialism, slavery, segregation, Jim Crow, and mass incarceration, then white America has absolutely no excuse. White Americans will continue to dehumanize black lives and fail at being allies until they’ve found the sacredness, peace, and purpose that exists within their own humanity first.
The depth that America is lacking begins with active awareness, an ethical value-based system, transparency, accountability, developing a relentless work ethic, and a strong commitment to life-long learning. I can only hope that moving forward America will no longer turn a blind eye. That it will re-evaluate what it stands for. That it will be open and honest about where it falls short, each and every time it does. That it won’t leave human and civil rights work just for activists and organizers. That ultimately beyond the brutal murders of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and Ahmaud Arbery it will remain dedicated to un-learning racist and privileged ideologies and learning how to be real defenders for ALL of humanity.
