I shared this on my social media last night (and in my family group text this morning), but I wanted to surface this article again here: When black people are in pain, white people just join book clubs by Tre Johnson.
As someone currently in a book club (reading The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander in our women’s group at work), I felt appropriately called out.
The truth is for as much as I think I’ve done the work before this current moment — the reading and unlearning and examination of my biases and supporting protests — it has not permeated my every day. It hasn’t had to. (That’s what privilege is, uff da). So now I’m left working through why there’s so much I still didn’t know before and so much I didn’t do before and pointing fingers at society and education until the blame falls squarely on me. I’m an adult. It’s my responsibility.
As Johnson puts it in the article:
“I’d like to think that well-meaning, invested white people are really gathering to talk about books to instruct themselves on how they can do more and do better, but it’s hard to believe that that’s really what most of them are working toward. You’ve had access to instruction about black humanity, freedom, mobility, happiness and health since we were brought here. It stretches as far back as slave songs and Phillis Wheatley poems and carries through Black Lives Matter activism. You’ve had your chance to say “This,” over and over again. Now act.”
And he’s right. This isn’t about a book club of the moment of a black square on Instagram. Obviously I need to keep learning but it can’t be at the expense of inaction. I’m so tempted to write all the actions I do think I’m taking here, but isn’t that just another way to assuage my white guilt? And holy fuck is this not about me . . . or it is only in the sense that I am 100% part of the problem or minimum actively benefiting from a system that has purposefully marginalized Black people.
Lindy West has a great passage in her book The Witches Are Coming (I wish I could find the exact quote online, but here’s my paraphrase) that’s talking about feminism and action. One of her male friends/allies is sympathetic and wants to help but doesn’t know where to starts so asks what he can do. And she responds, “What can you do? Honestly, everything.” Because women’s rights aren’t really women’s problem . . . we didn’t invent misogyny and sexism . . . but we’re the ones called on to fix it. So yeah, men, if you could fix that it would be fucking great.
It’s similar, isn’t it? We turn racism into a Black issue, when it’s most definitely a white issue. We did this. It’s our job to fix it. (And to be clear, wow, I do not mean that white voices are the ones that should be uplifted right now because that is not how you fix it.)
Here’s (a bare minimum) piece of the puzzle from The Daily Show last night: A Guide for White People Supporting Black Lives Matter:
And I’ll leave myself with another reminder from the article:
“The right acknowledgment of black justice, humanity, freedom and happiness won’t be found in your book clubs, protest signs, chalk talks or organizational statements. It will be found in your earnest willingness to dismantle systems that stand in our way — be they at your job, in your social network, your neighborhood associations, your family or your home. It’s not just about amplifying our voices, it’s about investing in them and in our businesses, education, political representation, power, housing and art. It starts, also, with reflection on the harm you’ve probably caused in a black person’s life.“
With Love,
Natalie