Being an educated, unapologetic black man from Chicago, I experience racism. However, it isn’t comparable to racism in other places like rural southern neighborhoods where you see cousin lovers flying confederate flags and drinking PBR, blatantly spurting racisms because they have their uncle-dads to back them up. No. The racism I experience is from white “allies”. White liberals who are “for equality”. White liberals who can attend a Black Lives Matter march and center themselves for the social appearance of being on the right side of history. This is the racism that is more dangerous to me. These are the wolves I look out for.
Let me break this down for you… Let’s start with what racism is. If you Google the definition of racism, which white liberals love to do when they are accused of racism or want to call a black person racist, you will read that racism is “the belief that all members of each race possess characteristics or abilities specific to that race, especially so as to distinguish it as inferior or superior to another race or races.” Now, from a lack of blanket perception of reality, many, dare I say most white liberals take this definition as bible.
Definitions, however, are based on etymology, which is the study of the historical development of words. So, literally, how letters work and how roots are formed. The obvious problem with this is that racism is a social construct. Racism is a man made system of ideals created by white people for white people. Since it is a social construct, we must speak about it not from an etymological standpoint, but a sociological standpoint. It is the only accurate and valid way to discuss racism because it is the literal study of human development and problems.
Now, with all of this being said, Let’s move along here… There was recently a post on Facebook by a white liberal making a joke about how people who smoke weed should be put down. It goes as quoted “If you smoke pot, you deserve to be put down or shot. You Don’t deserve rights. You are smoking the jazz cabbage, the devils lettuce, and you think it’s okay because your friends do it? If they jumped off a skyscraper, would you do it? Rhetorical. of course you would, because pot damages brain cells. It kills neurons in your brain cells and boosts your dopamine levels, basically making you a crack addict. How does it feel knowing you’re a meth head? You’re a real piece of shit and a burden on this society. You should be executed.” Let’s keep in mind that this corny ass, semen colored joke teller claims to be pro black.
Now, many black people flooded the comments to call him out on his insensitivity towards the actuality of how weed is used to criminalize black people and how his seemingly joke is a reality for black people. He was called a bigot, racist and a faux ally… all by me. And after a multitude of generic white names, Chet (his name isn’t actually Chet. It’s Jeremy. But it’s fucking Chet) became frat boy pissed. “How dare you niggers who I advocate for call me out on my own racism.” (Not an actual quote, but might as well have been). He became so mad that black people “had the audacity” to call him racist after “all of the pro black stuff” he posts.
One of the biggest problems I’ve found with white liberals is that many of them believe their allyship is an omission from perpetuating racism. I lowkey blame this on the cookout culture… how so many black people are quick to invite white people into our spaces because they either perform or support blackness. This leaves room for white people to believe that since their actions might have made a few blacks happy, they’re here for us. I also blame social media. Many white liberals only say they are pro black or pro equality as to look good for their followers and remain safe in public perception and assessment of white people.
Another prominent issue is the dismissal of black people if we hurt your feelings. Chet was so angry that black people were calling him out on his shit that his hidden racism came to the forefront… he went so far as to call me LaMarcus because I called him Chet and his reasoning was that if we as black people act racist towards him, he could reciprocate it. The problem with this is that racism can’t be perpetuated by black people against white people . See my assessment of racism. However, even with my assessment, which I actually put on his post that he couldn’t rebuttal against, but instead dismissed, he needed to avoid looking bad. Being called a racist in the eyes of liberals is worse than perpetuating it.
For me, I don’t trust liberal white people just as much as I don’t trust conservative white people because they carry the same capacity to oppress me. If you really want to be allies to black people, shut your fucking mouth and listen. If you have been blessed with a black person in your life willing to call you on your shit and offer you their intellectual labor for free, be grateful. Just cause your feelings are hurt because they call you on our your racist ways does not mean you get to dismiss black voices and still claim to be pro black. Faux allies are the cancer of liberation and if you threaten my liberation, you will get burned just like that white, overtly racist conservative that you claim to be the opposite of.
Intellectual Dropouts 