Who’s responsible for dismantling white supremacy?
As a Black person, it’s difficult to NOT feel and think about white supremacy. Some white people bristle and become defensive as if hearing this term is somehow equally as difficult as experiencing it. I’m sorry this is true—not sorry because you’re upset but sorry because it’s shameful that you would deny historical facts that clearly prove white supremacy is a thread intentionally and willingly woven in the quilt of American history.
Of late, I’ve been asking myself, ‘Who’s responsible for dismantling white supremacy?’ I’ve concluded that we—people of color that is—cannot fully dismantle white supremacy without the consistent cooperation of those who benefit from its establishment and existence. And this leads me to scrutinize the commitment of so-called white allies. Are these allies truly with us, or is their commitment conditional?
Sometimes who people are in the light of a protest are not who they be at family gatherings or in private meetings with the racist relatives and business partners. But I guess free childcare and a discount on that home improvement project are too hard to pass up for the sake of equality. But don’t clutch your pearls when your kid calls a Black person a nigger after hearing grandpa say it or when you discover the contractor you recommended to your Black friend charged them double for the same work. I understand not wanting to create family drama but consider the long list of Black people—unjustly killed and imprisoned—who will never have that blessed opportunity to partake in a little family drama again.
Black and brown people can call out racism, but I think white people are responsible for cutting it down and digging it out at the root. It’s an internal, destructive, repetitive and violent task but the planters and therefore also their benefactors must take responsibility for setting it right—even if the work takes a lifetime. If white allies are not willing to lose out, I’m not certain we can hope for much beyond legislation, which clearly has limitations. White supremacists find ways within legalities, like changing and establishing new voting laws, to reinforce and rebuild white dominance.
It’s clear that Black people were not supposed the survive.
But when we did and it was clear that we possessed the knowledge to build wealthy, beautiful communities as we did in Wilmington before the Wilmington Race Riot, white folks concluded that they must try undo us at any cost. White folks like to talk about nonviolent resistance, but the truth is there has been a lot of necessary and successful violent action taken against white supremacy. Harriet Tubman carried a gun, and Dr. King’s entourage and many of the places he stayed while speaking around the country were heavily armed. Peaceful, respectable protests were a strategy leveraged to gain financial and legislative support from white liberals. It is often required that we be ‘good negroes’ before white allies will join or support our efforts. It’s maddening.
In all our being good and not raising the hell we should, we’re still being offered crumbs but told we’re receiving a feast.
I guess my question to white allies is, ‘What are you willing to lose?’ Are you willing to move into a Black neighborhood (and not gentrify it) or attend an HBCU or invest the money inherited from racist relatives into programs that support equality? And please don’t trip and say you wouldn’t be welcomed in our communities or at our universities. Black people have been more gracious—perhaps in some cases than we should have—in welcoming and accepting white people into our spaces. And if there are times you’ve not been received hospitably, take it with a grain of salt. There are times we just don’t have the emotional and mental wherewithal to offer an olive branch. The daily fight against overt and covert white supremacy leaves our cups empty of grace.
It’s time for a gut check. It’s time for white people to take responsibility for dismantling white supremacy. If this means losing family members, profits and opportunities, so be it. If you want to prove you’re with us tell me, ‘What are you willing to lose?
