Lol. Well, if that was true, I suppose I’d be frustrated too.
I reject the term, however. Not the person. Not the conduct. The term.
It creates a fairly risky mindset that leaves us stuck in the 90s.
It starts with this: we all fight injustice (Asians, Latinos, Europeans, Africans, Blacks, Whites). Have you ever wondered why whites are the only named ally in the group despite doing the same work we all do?
Have you ever wondered about the name itself?
White Ally — doesn’t tell you much about what’s being done or who is being helped, but it certainly tells you who is wearing the cape. Why is that? IS that the most important part of all variables in play here?
And about that: White Ally makes about as much sense to me as calling a wealthy champion of the poor a “Rich Ally.” This doesn’t strike you as off somehow?
I can go on with the questions, but let me pivot to the point. Now this:
What do you think it communicates to the WA about her own importance, relative to other people who do the same work?
What do you think it communicates to those other people about their own importance? To other people about your importance relative to them?
What do you think it suggests about the bearers culpability, to the extent that there is any? Hard to START the “help” with introspection when you’re one of the White Hats.
But most importantly, what does it suggest for the less scrupulous about their limits, given that the term is so broad it could literally encompass ANYTHING? When they are just “helping” you to verify your purpose before entering an apartment building, to support you to staying out of trouble? Or playing basketball on a park court at night? Or studying in your dorm’s study room? Or painting “BLM” on your own property? Is it possible that such a person could define help as helping a person of color stay out of trouble, for their own good?
Because just about ALL the people who to whom I refer here did just that: I didn’t mean any harm, I’m not racist, I just thought . . .
It gives the less committed conver for doing nothing of substance, it boost one’s importance, not to mention ego, and it places them — out of the gate — at a presumption of good will that must be overcome before they’ll even consider culpability, it legitimizes policing and masks it as ultrism. It’s dangerous.
And you don’t de facto deserve it (the White Hat) more than someone doing the same thing because you’re White.
It’s spin. It’s marketing. And in that the only one assured to get anything out of it is you, as its a lovely source of absolution perhaps, too smooth over just a twinkle of guilt?
Come join us mere mortals. We seem to know who all the other good guys are without them having to announce themselves. The same will be true when it comes to you.
You come from the largest source of Black antipathy and, as it just so happens, are also the ONLY source with a name. I’d be hard pressed to call that a coincidence.
If you haven’t already had this conversation with yourself , that’s the magic of the cape, and it’s working.
