Asabagna blogs on white people and no longer expecting them to change a system that benefits them:
In regards to the eurocentric dominant culture, this has meant four things. One, I no longer felt any responsibility to be their teacher (and/or confessor… as a way for them to ease the angst of their white privilege) on the effects of white supremacy - eurocentric superiority thinking and practice on people of colour. Two, I had no desire for the material and/or societal trinkets which signifies “success” in their society. I could no longer be bought. My soul… beliefs, values and principles… are more important to me than to “gain the world”. Three, I don’t expect anything from white people. I don’t expect them to be fair. I don’t expect them to be just. I don’t expect them to be empathetic to my situation or to the struggles of people of African descent. I don’t expect them to take any sort of responsibility for their past, present or future behaviours. Finally, I care about all people… regardless of nationality, ethnicity, colour, religion, gender, age and sexual orientation… who are oppressed and/or taken advantage of. I don’t compare and rate oppressions on a scale. However with that being said, the issues concerning people of African descent are first and foremost in mind… because I am one of them… and what we need to do, not only to overcome to survive, but more importantly, to empower ourselves to live, is the core of my cause.
[Hat Tip: IllVox]
All I have to say about this is: a lot of (I would say most) white people don’t see any incentive to learn about the relation between race and societal power. The natural takeway is: if you will not be their teacher, then who will? The answer is, “No one.”
I suppose Asabaga finds this acceptable, and who am I to gainsay his/her decision? But that’s a reality I rarely see acknowledged: if you tell the privileged to just go examine their privilege on their own, the most likely response is “well fuck it, then” and no examining will actually get done. Yes, it’s unfair; those without/with less power (nonwhites/nonmales/nonchristians, in their respective areas of non-privilege) shouldn’t have to spend their time handholding the privileged. But sometimes that’s the only way to reach someone.
MHMH Writes: “Yes, it’s unfair; those without/with less power (nonwhites/nonmales/nonchristians, in their respective areas of non-privilege) shouldn’t have to spend their time handholding the privileged. But sometimes that’s the only way to reach someone.”
There is another option: the enlightened among the privileged (and you sound like a worthy candidate if you are one among them) can respect that decision to disengage with white folks due to exhaustion or disgust – while still absorbing our words online. And carrying the message to other white folks.
And not all people of color feel the same way as Asa does or I do – at least not all at the same time – so there should be plenty of human options for the motivated white person who has developed an incentive and truly wants to interact in order to change.
Part of privilege is expecting or demanding that the oppressed teach their oppressor, that the less privileged is expected to teach the highly privileged. There are some POC’s who will mammy white folks but the lesson that they will really be teaching is more about the maintenance of privilege than its termination. Privileged people must learn – the hard way – that they have to take the lead in their own education around racism/white supremacy.
“carrying the message to other white folks” runs smack into this post on Racialicious: “I guess what we all want is that allies will be sensitive and intolerant of race bias, but that they will keep their privilege in check and remember that the voices of the marginalized should be the loudest ones. The victims of an ‘ism’ must take the lead.”
mj: “Privileged people must learn – the hard way – that they have to take the lead in their own education around racism/white supremacy.”
What exactly is the hard way? One of the privileges is not having to learn anything.