Here's Something To Wrap Your Apologist Brain Around

Maybe it’s just my competitive streak talking, but I’ve always loved that song, Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better. 

The banter, the pettiness, but most of all, the refusal to be looked down upon. 

I have no doubt that Annie Oakley could drink more liquor (and quicker) than Frank Butler. Frank could surely give Annie a lesson in “long-distance spittin’.” But neither of them gives an inch. And as a result, they develop a mutual respect for each other. 

At least that’s what I presume happens…I’ve never actually seen the whole of Annie Get Your Gun…

In my article, Is It OK To Be Racist?, I pointed out that black people can do anything white people can do. Including, being racist. The idea that black people lack the power or the social standing to be racist is not only untrue, it’s also deeply racist and infantilising. 

Sadly, some black people, like Wilma, have bought into it.

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Wilma:

Here's something to wrap your apologist brain around.

A few years ago, a man, (in Cleveland I believe), kidnapped three women, held them captive, violently abused them, used them sexually, etc. for months. One evening one of the women escaped and got the police to arrest him.

Let's say that man passed out one night and the three women decided to beat him to death, or got hold of a weapon and killed their captor and abuser.

Then escaped and called the police. Would they have been justified in their actions?

I would think, "Yes."

I cannot imagine the pain, horror, degradation, and fear they must have suffered in that situation. They could've easily been driven temporarily insane as well.

Now, let's say black people who were enslaved decided to kill their master and his family one night while they were sleeping or otherwise indisposed.

Slaves went through, horror, sexual abuse, physical violence, spiritual degradation just as the three women did.

Would the slaves have been justified in their actions? I say, "Yes", where white people who would agree with the former scenario, would vehemently disagree with the latter.

The fact that white people were not murdered in scores by those they enslaved, tortured, sexually abused, degraded, etc. shows nothing but forbearance AND forgiveness!

Whites owe their very existence today to continue their legacy of racism and abuse of black people to black people NOT doing that to them!

It's their turn to do something, rather than whine, snivel, and cry, about being questioned about being white, and what that means.

P.S. If white were based solely on skin color, instead of power, would a black person suffering from vitiligo, and who lost all their pigmentation be white? Would they be accepted as white? Would they be welcomed into the network and given the advantages of whiteness in society?

No, because white and whiteness are not based on skin color. You know it, I know it, and they know it.

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Steve QJ:

“I would think, "Yes."”

Yep, me too. I think any sane person would. Same for enslaved black people killing their masters. I'm with Nat Turner all the way.

But the question you're asking is a little more like this:

"A few years ago, a man kidnapped three women, held them captive and violently abused them. One evening, one of the women escaped and the man was arrested.

The women went on to have daughters of their own, who also had daughters of their own and so on. Let's say those great-great-granddaughters encountered a different man's great-great-grandson. Would they be justified in killing him? Or hating him? Or blaming him for the evils perpetrated on their grandmothers?"

And here, I'd say no. As, I believe, would any sane person. What happened to their great-great-grandmother is awful. But it doesn't make a blanket hatred of men make sense.

If whiteness isn't based on skin colour, what is it based on? Why did Mystal use "whiteness" and "white people" as synonyms? What did Khilanani want to kill any random white person as opposed to white people exhibiting this mysterious property known as whiteness?

And if whiteness is about power, did Obama become white when he became president? Is Oprah white? Is Lebron white? Is Dave Chappelle white? Is powerlessness the only way to understand black people? Because the white supremacists would agree with you.

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I wrote an article about the killing of Jordan Neely recently. And while I was researching it, I came across the astonishing claim, by a fairly well-known political commentator, that black people are “inherently vulnerable.”

Not marginalised by a society that occasionally still treats us as “less than.” Not struggling to catch up after years of unjust oppression. No, that’s not enough anymore. Our oppression and vulnerability and inferiority must be written deep in our bones. 

I do my best not to swear in my writing. But even if I didn’t, I don’t think I could adequately express my hatred for this mindset. 

I’d be willing to bet that almost every black person has a story about a time when somebody took one look at them and assumed they weren’t smart enough or capable enough or determined enough to succeed. When they weren’t shown the respect they deserved. When somebody told them, “No, you can’t.”

And the correct and only response, as Annie Oakley and Frank Butler (and Barack Obama) remind us, is “Yes, we can.”