Specific to this, and a lot of hashtags and jokes that I see white folk trying to make like this, one of the most glaring problematic elements is that the butt of the joke is not systemic racism or white supremacy, but rather those who are the victims of racism, specifically people who are Black. It makes light of and tries to make it sound like a no consequence joke of how white folks can do crazy stuff and get away with it, but if someone who is black would have done it, they would have been murdered. It’s not funny. It’s not a new revelation. I also dont experience this as activism or dialogue. Unfortunately, I experience these trends as white people needing to center the conversation on ourselves rather than owning our complicity in white supremacy or acknowledging that privilege is in and of itself a participation in violence. It is hugely important for white people to own our privilege and how that privilege is our participation in systemic racism. However, it is hugely important for white folks to make we are not doing so in a way that overtakes and positions our voice as more important in defining the struggle, the conversation, or the movement. Online and in the streets white folks keep trying to change #BlackLivesMatter to #AllLivesMatter. This is an example of continuous white violence, white privilege, and white folks constant attempt to erase Black Lives and Black voice. Get that ish out of here. Although #CrimingWhileWhite may have started off intentional, to me, at this moment it feels like some Tim Wise or Bill Maher type white liberal b.s. Push stop on that and really own your privilege and be an informed ally, rather than trying to use someone’s murder as an opportunity to get yourself trending/liked/tweeted.
Posted on: Fri, 05 Dec 2014 02:35:38 +0000
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