whiteness

America continues to gaslight Black people about racism

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This past Monday was the Martin Luther King Jr. federal holiday, and if you ever needed an example of how America continues to gaslight Black people and play in our faces, look no further than the tweet the FBI sent out in “commemoration” of that day. 

“This #MLKDay, the #FBI honors one of the most prominent leaders of the Civil Rights movement and reaffirms its commitment to Dr. King’s legacy of fairness and equal justice for all,” their social media person wrote as a caption to a photo of the MLK monument in Washington, D.C.

A Twitter community note added to the tweet said, “The FBI engaged in the surveillance of King, attempted to discredit him, and used manipulation tactics to influence him to stop organizing. King’s family believe the FBI was responsible for his death.”

America continues to gaslight Black people about racism

Let’s talk about some words that trigger white people

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Moist. 

“Moist” is a polarizing word out here in these streets. There are so many people I know who hate the word “moist,” and I don’t know why.

Is it because it sounds wet when people say it? Is it the weird combination of letters used to spell it? Why do people hate the word “moist” so much? 

There have been many articles written over the years that have tried to explain why people have such a bad reaction to that word.

My editor, Genetta Adams, is one of those people who doesn’t like the word moist. When I asked her why, she said, “It’s stupid for me not to like it, and I know it’s stupid, but the way you say the word ‘moist’ just sounds nasty.

“Only weird and gross things are described as moist,” she continued. “That’s basically it. It just sounds wrong. It just sounds icky.”

“Cake is the only good thing that is described as moist,” she added. “Otherwise, it just feels like you are describing something dark and dirty.”

Most people recognize that their aversion to the word “moist” is irrational, and their reactions to hearing it usually never extend beyond cringing, shaking their head or asking the person to stop saying it. 

I’m sure they recognize the word is not actively harming them, so they don’t have to treat it like a grenade. 

I wish the same could be said about (some) white people and certain words that seem to trigger (some of) them whenever they hear them or see them in print. 

The words that seem to feel like hot grits on the delicate and fragile skin of (some) white people are “white,” “race,” “racism,” and “racist.”

Let’s talk about some words that trigger white people

Dianne Feinstein, Mitch McConnell, and the way old white people refuse to relinquish power

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As far as Blackness in the U.S. Senate, there have only been 11 Black senators; Butler will be the 12th. She will be the third Black woman to serve in the U.S. Senate. 

I think you get the picture. While we are actively contributing members of the U.S., we are not represented in a way that honors that. 

Sounds about white. 

So when someone like Feinstein remains in office well past their expiration date, we are robbed of the opportunity to put new blood in with the old. We can’t inject fresh ideas into our government because the old ideas have the government in a chokehold. 

And while we may have never seen Dianne Feinstein short circuit on national television the way we have with Mitch McConnell, the point still remains. Putting them in a bowl of rice every time is not the answer; electing new people to get the job done is. 

Dianne Feinstein, Mitch McConnell, and the way old white people refuse to relinquish power

No matter how high we climb, white people will find a way to put us in our ‘place’

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“The party took place in the garden of the Forest Hills home of Dr. Duroseau and Claude, and the guests were all Black or Latino except for one person.

“According to the lawsuit, as the party was coming to an end, a white woman walked into the Duroseau home uninvited with a “large, menacing German Shepherd” and demanded they turn the music down. Duroseau told her they were having a birthday party and that it was wrapping up soon. He asked her to leave and went back to the backyard where guests continued to socialize.

“That’s when another white neighbor, a man identified as 48-year-old Marcus Rosebrock, decided to turn his water hose on the partygoers to make them leave.”

No matter how high we climb, white people will find a way to put us in our ‘place’

It’s safer to be a neo-Nazi in Florida than it is to be Black or LGBTQ+

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In the same press release, which denounced the demonstrations for the bigoted hate parades that they were, the ADL said another demonstration took place later that same day. The two extremist groups involved in that hate gathering were identified as the Goyim Defense League (GDL) and Blood Tribe (BT). The second “demonstration,” which the participants called the “March of the Redshirts,” included 51 people — all of whom were wearing red shirts, black masks and black pants. They carried swastika flags, performed Hitler salutes and yelled things like “white power” and “Jews will not replace us.”

USA Today reports that some of those involved in the demonstrations displayed messaging in support of Ron DeSantis, their resident bigot-in-chief. 

Some Florida lawmakers have come out to denounce the demonstrations, but you know who has yet to say anything about them? 

Ron DeSantis. 

Through his words and legislative actions, DeSantis has created an environment where bigotry feels free to walk proudly in neon clothing out in the open. It doesn’t have to hide under the white hoods and sheets of yesteryear. It can show its face proudly because the highest-ranking member of the state government has given bigots a pass to do what they want. 

It’s safer to be a neo-Nazi in Florida than it is to be Black or LGBTQ+

Whiteness does not care about the comfort or education of Black students

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Last Friday, the school singled out all of its Black fourth and fifth graders and pulled them into an assembly where they were held responsible for the school’s low test scores. 

A PowerPoint presentation, titled “AA Presentation,” was shown to the students. The presentation itself contained typos and errors, and the irony of that is making me constipated because how are you going to create an entire assembly to shame Black children for the failures of the system (of whiteness) when you don’t even have it together enough to proofread said presentation? Y’all are just sloppy all around.

It identified Black students as “the problem” in low test scores because they “have underperform [sic] on standardized assessment for the past three years.” It notes that the school only has 32% of its students who are where they need to be when it should have 41%.

It then tasks the students with committing to getting themselves up to where they need to be on the standardized tests; passing all their curriculum-based assessments with a 75% or higher, and committing to “maintaining high iReady scores within their individual track.”

There were no bullet points in the presentation that detailed how the school was going to help the Black children keep these commitments. 

Whiteness does not care about the comfort or education of Black students

Here’s what Sarah Jane Comrie could do to fix the Citi Bike situation, but she won’t

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We are upset because Sarah Jane Comrie chose to react in a way that was too over the top for the type of dispute that was happening at that moment. 

The boy’s side of the story has now come out, and we’ve learned that she initially asked three of the boys in the video if she could take their bikes, and after being told “no” by all three, she proceeded to try and commandeer the bike of the boy we see resisting her in the video. 

His side of the story makes her look so much worse. She comes off as entitled at the very least, but the history of white women weaponizing their whiteness and tears in the name of causing trouble for Black people is what has people — Black people in particular — on edge. 

Here’s what Sarah Jane Comrie could do to fix the Citi Bike situation, but she won’t

Mother Of Teen In Citi Bike Video Speaks Out: ‘No One Bothered To Ask Him What Happened’

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“This situation is really driving me crazy and making me sick,” Betty said. “We have never been in this situation before.”

“We came to this country to make a better life for our kids,” she continued. “We are not thieves. Just because we are poor doesn’t mean we are thieves.”

Betty said Michael had to stay home from school for a few days because of the mental anguish of the incident and all that has come after it.

“As a mother, you don’t want to see your child like that,” she said.

Betty said she was horrified when she first saw the video.

“My reaction when I saw it was ‘oh my God. I almost lost my son in that moment.’ Do you understand me? I am not from here, but we all know this country,” she said. “But how the policemen here do our sons, and our husbands, and our fathers. They kill us.”

Mother Of Teen In Citi Bike Video Speaks Out: ‘No One Bothered To Ask Him What Happened’

Accountability is like kryptonite to whiteness

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The racist mob has tried to make the narrative be about everything but Sarah Jane Comrie’s behavior in the video — even though it’s her behavior that everyone is upset about. 

There is a reason for this. 

Accountability is like kryptonite to whiteness. Whiteness does not like being held accountable. Whiteness doesn’t like seeing white people being held accountable. 

Accountability is like kryptonite to whiteness

The ‘receipts’ don’t matter. The bike doesn’t matter. Sarah Jane Comrie’s actions matter

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Her lawyer’s statements in the media are meant to obfuscate the actual issue at hand. He is making it about whether or not she tried to steal a bike and whether or not she actually paid for said bike, but even he has to know on some level that’s not the real issue. 

Judging by his statements in defense of her, the employment lawyer representing Sarah Jane Comrie understands that her very loud and public outburst where she weaponizes her tears and begins screaming for help even when she was in no imminent danger is the issue. 

People who saw that video understood exactly what Sarah Jane Comrie was doing. It was evident in the smug look you see on her face right before she began screaming for help. 

Attorney Justin Marino knows that even Sarah Jane Comrie’s employer, NYC Health + Hospitals called her behavior in the video “disturbing.”

The ‘receipts’ don’t matter. The bike doesn’t matter. Sarah Jane Comrie’s actions matter

White People Like Sarah Jane Comrie Always Get The Benefit Of The Doubt

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It’s really funny the way white people get all up in arms about one of their own being dragged through the media, but they have no issue with it when it’s a Black victim having their past dredged up in the wake of their murder ala Jordan Neely. The hypocrisy is blinding and white. 

Adding to the madness is a follow-up article from the New York Post in which they claim to have receipts sent to them by Justin Marino, an employment lawyer defending Sarah Jane Comrie to help her keep her job with NYC Health + Hospitals (NYC H+H). 

Marino claims the alleged receipts prove that Comrie rented the bike first and it was immediately put back in the rack one minute later, and then she rented another shortly thereafter. 

The Post follow-up was written after Marino sent a letter in response to their original article.

White People Like Sarah Jane Comrie Always Get The Benefit Of The Doubt

Y’all started it

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Before I get started, let me be clear about one thing: All white people have white privilege. 

Whenever white privilege comes up as a topic, there are always white people who want to claim they don’t have it because they are poor or uneducated or whatever excuse they come up with to try and distance themselves from the very thing that gives them a leg up no matter their class or circumstance. 

White privilege is an inherent gift that all white people benefit from just by virtue of being white. You can put a poor white person in the same space as a poor Black person, and the white person is going to be viewed as somehow better no matter their station. 

White privilege is about opportunity. 

Being the smartest, most educated and experienced person applying doesn’t guarantee a Black person will get a job, but a mediocre white person can get a job over them because of white privilege. 

White people made everything about race

My latest for theGrio discusses the social construct of race, whiteness, white privilege and white supremacy.

White fragility *is* white violence

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“I consider my writing to be a form of activism. It is my way of using my voice, my natural writing ability, and my words to speak up for myself and other Black people. 

It is a form of protest, in my opinion, and baby, protest is not supposed to make you feel comfortable. 

If you, as a white person, feel personally attacked by the things I say and write, that requires a level of self analysis that I can’t help you with. It’s not up to me to smooth it over for you and make it easier for you to digest.”

The frustrations of a Black woman who writes about race

Sometimes, being Black in AmeriKKKa can make you want to scream

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I don’t want to have to worry about white people policing me, trying to “put me in my place,” being suspicious of me simply because I am Black and taking every opportunity to foist their opinions or their “advice” on me.

It Is Absolutely Exhausting Being Black in America

White people lose their shit every Black History Month. Why?

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The problem is that whiteness is centered so much in our world, people like this don’t know how to respond when it isn’t. White people don’t have to worry about their “culture” being left out of anything, because it’s always present, but they still complain when they can’t see themselves in something. They will even go so far as to insert themselves where they don’t belong.

Why Can’t We Just Enjoy Black History Month?

Auntie Unfiltered and Uncle Michael Discuss White Fragility

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If you know anything about me, you know I love me some Michael Harriot. He is a brilliant thinker, writer, historian, and storyteller.

We’ve worked together for the last six years, but he’s also a dearly loved friend, so any opportunity I get to spend time with him and do a project with him, I take it.

This is an episode from Auntie Unfiltered, a video series I created at The Root.

Auntie Unfiltered and Uncle Michael Discuss White Fragility