Its an interesting article, but I think theres a few things that need to be said. 1) The title sounded, to me, like the events in Ferguson enabled white people to do new things, but the article is actually about things white people should do to combat racism. 2) I think her analysis of why more white people arent involved is, well, generous. While what she describes is the case for some people, from what Ive read it seems a lot of white people arent bothered by the events as much as they should be. He may have robbed a store. He may have had pot in his system. He shouldnt have been feisty with the officer. Ive seen these used as justification for what happened. And I think a lot of white people are satisfied with these so-called justifications because of unconscious racism. Ive also seen very little discussion on the effects of generations of oppression and institutional racism. This event, unfortunately, is not an isolated one, which critiques of the transpiring events dont seem to take in to account. After a life time of being harassed by police, some people arent going to react ideally. The culmination of police/people interactions needs to be considered. 3) She doesnt suggest white people take a moment to examine white privilege. A disturbing amount of white people dont believe such a thing exists, including Bill OReilly. The circumstances differ wildly when white people are shot by police when compared to black people. We cant look at this event and project it on to our own cultural experience. 4) I would have liked to have seen more discussion on each of her points, which may be necessary for people that dont have prior familiarity with these ideas. That being said I do want to see more written on how we go forward constructively.
Posted on: Wed, 20 Aug 2014 00:27:47 +0000