Dearest white progressive/radical,
Recent events in which reported progressives and radicals, purposely or ‘unintentionally,’ marginalized people of color, their lives, images, thoughts and struggles — after prompting a ‘what the fuck’ — remind me this seems so familiar.
No, you won’t need to tune out the comments about ongoing racism that you always tune out, until a white person says the same thing. To you, white progressive or radical, here are some other thoughts to consider.
Your society — and if you’re white, it is your society, regardless of your political pretensions to the contrary — and your way of life are built on a foundation of white supremacy. As a result, history glorifies whites; power is defined by whites; white chauvinism is such that white people assume the right to opine on things they know nothing about and make cultural assumptions about people of color that are misleading, racist and often wrong; and police, no matter how many brown faces you badge up, fundamentally will always act in the service of white power, as they always have. You’ve got it good, for real.
Yet, in a space where enlightenment, compassion and justice are supposed to be seeking a space to flourish, you believe you’re somehow above your society where such white supremacy was spoon-fed to you since birth. Then you take offense when a person of color points out such a fact.
I will spare myself the lecture about the lives people of color lead and the things we face, which you are happily and willfully ignorant of and defensive about. W. E. B. DuBois and a bunch of other people have shed many tears explaining how racism and white supremacy have disfigured this world and made a joke of the concepts of justice and freedom. Reading a book is on you anyway.
I will not bother to throw in all the asterisks about poor whites, everyone being oppressed, whiteness as a political construct and whatever. You’ll be more than happy to dig up qualifiers for racism and your innocence from now through the next Stone Age when you get done reading this.
What gets my goat is your fear.
When confronted, rather than listen openly, you refute any perception of bigotry in your ultra-pure movement or that maybe, just maybe, people of color might have credible/valid points, that even minuscule errors might have been made and you have some work to do. Our effort to candidly communicate issues we see is returned with the posture that you and your movement are above growing, learning or reproach. White privilege has trained you white folks since the spoon that you are an authority, THE authority. You know what’s best and right, whether you say it openly or not, because you’re white.
True power is never having to wonder how the world is perceived by someone different than you, having the luxury of manipulating that someone’s experience in whatever way you deem appropriate, and sitting pretty amid a status that is far better than people of color, and thinking you got here because you stuck to the Protestant work ethic of working hard. You have been educated and given messages, oh nice white progressive/radical, your entire life that people of color don’t know our history and experiences and can’t possibly have the tools to critically understand the world around us or your behavior. You practice the teaching every day that we people of color are here for your use. Maybe it was not worded that way, but it is certainly the outcome.
When people of color raise a criticism of your practice, rather than listen to the spirit of the matter, you play pilgrim and go for the smallpox blankies. Throwing in ad hominem attacks on people of color rather than addressing the issues solves nothing, but sure distracts people. So does chatting up what you assume of our personalities and politics, or rather what you want to paint as an extension of what we believe, even though chances are you have absolutely no clue what we really think. Don’t believe me? You’re picking apart the language in this essay right now — throwing in buts, discrediting comments with any minor example that contradicts a statement and figuring out every tactic to cling to your alleged superiority. It happens. White privilege has taught its subjects to do this all the time.
Typically, your goal is not discussion, but to win, destroy and one-up at any cost. Anything smelling of an admission of fault is always layered under such a large heap of self-righteous bullshit that it reminds us, with you at least, an apology is never an apology at all. People of color commenting about racism and marginalization are always without merit, and are negative, irrational, authoritarian, not precise enough, liars, reverse racists — you name it. Our disinterest in recanting our concerns about racism and then fetching massa a pillow so we can make you feel comfortable in your privileged position are cast by you as callous. You did nothing wrong, of course. It’s all in our heads. You are progressive or radical. Thus you are cleansed and above question from the colored people or anybody else you deem below you. You and your white activist pals dismiss us, as you always do, and go on about your day.
News flash: you’re not a victim, but a participant and collaborator in white supremacy. People of color have seen your behavior a thousand times reenacted by your fellow whites, ‘good’ and ‘bad,’ since our childhoods. Your attempts to shrug off, explain away, ignore, disrespect and act out are not original or progressive or radical. It’s completely arrogant and pretentious to think you are unique. You are just another white person who benefits from the powerlessness of people of color, and does so proudly and without remorse or regard. Save the blankie, William Bradford. People far smarter and more politically mature than you have been doing the shame-and-blame for centuries, and probably sounded smarter and more mature doing it then than you do now.
When people of color talk about acknowledgment and respect for people of color, you talk about how the movement can’t grow by focusing on ’small’ struggles, but how big tent issues (unity, class, feminism, war, etc.) play better with ‘people,’ who happen to be as white as you. No matter how crippling and prejudiced, you throw out false universals and analogies to fit the experiences of people of color into what point you must prove. Dare I point out the ‘ruling class’ you gnash your teeth over adores your loyalty to white privilege most of all? Nah.
You fail to grasp how, of all the issues you or I hold dear, whites in literally every case are the least impacted adversely among populations. You take for granted how white privilege shapes your world view and blanch at the suggestion that you hear out and take advice from people of color, who are often far more affected than you will ever be by a political situation, regardless of their social status or yours. You bleating about gender and class and anything else you can think of, fair-skinned one, sounds like one of many diversionary tactics used to deflect many an honest conversation about race. Still, you talk about your big tent. The problem is, when Third World people focus on white supremacy, whites take their crap and camp elsewhere.
Despite all this, you remain terrified.
It’s as if being the center of the political, historical, psychological, economic and military universe is not enough for you. The fear of looking over the castle wall of white privilege and acknowledging a fuckup grips you with the kind of discomfort no Black man walking into one of your hallowed meetings ever could. Saying white privilege is an issue is like saying you molest mountain goats on a regular basis. Saying a person of color has something to say that you should and WILL listen to and act on is like asking for a goddamn kidney. Woe be it to the person of color if one of you admits a mistake though. Then we have to kiss your ass (and the whites you vouch for) as the “good white people” ’til we’re both pushing walkers down the street.
For the vast number of people of color, just getting a concession is victory enough, let alone thinking YOU actually then do some work out of this deal.
I am almost inclined to qualify my comments as matters that are not about guilt, but rather of political principle. A few people of color defend you as a matter of political principle. Many more take your side because they know how power works and want a cut of the action, but I will leave it up to you to figure out which person of color is rocking which side of that equation. The ones who speak on your behalf on either end, I assure you, take endless shit from other people of color for being sellouts and having faith in their ‘hippie cracker friends.’ You don’t know about that, mostly, nor do or should you care. It’s not something you have to worry about after all. Those people of color who staked their political credibility on your smug asses get what we deserve. Still, it would be nice to think if you lived the politics you say you believe in, as they do, you would step it up a bit.
Other than that, I have absolutely no solutions to offer you. I can throw up resources for hours, but until you’re ready to make the break with white privilege and white supremacy on your own, no book or website I write about will help you. Until that time, you’re just one of those white people living off our backs, talking loud and saying nothing, like plenty before you.
Now before I go and you let the swords out like you just landed on the ‘New World,’ I could have written this letter like a doctoral thesis, citing Cornell West and Eduardo Galleano and all that. I doubt it would have made a difference, so I wrote it like I saw it. Generallly, people of color like me lost faith in you and your ilk long ago and don’t bother saying anything. We just refuse to trust anything you say or do. I’m surprised I gave you this much of my time.
Instances of racism from white progressives and radicals like we see now are not new. People of color have confronted, struggled with and discussed whites for decades. Still, progressive and radical movements are overwhelmingly white, and the unwillingness by Caucasians to let white privilege rule is a strong as it ever was, if not stronger. Some of us feel the effort we put into working with you far outweighs the benefits because there are more whites that stab us in the back than act as our allies. Always has been that way, and always probably will be that way under your society.
If you care to prove me wrong, be my guest. Maybe I am incorrect in that analysis, but I doubt it.
Oh yeah. Fuck Seal Press and Kevin Tucker.
Signed,
Another Anonymous Person of Color for illvox.org
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#1 by Nathan Anderson on February 1, 2010 - 7:51 am
While I certainly agree that we (white people) can often make a habit of marginalizing and excluding people of color, it’s not a conscious decision. If anything, I would argue that most of us (as most all anarchists do) wish greatly to bridge the divides and ensure solidarity amongst different racial and cultural groups. However, just like how in the lunchroom as a kid the black kids generally congregate together, and the Mexicans, and the whites, etc., etc., people naturally segregate themselves due to a.) the common ancestry/color/heritage people identify themselves by and b.) our society’s subconscious and subliminal restraints on our minds that make racial harmony so difficult.
I feel that this essay grossly generalizes white radicals. Of course inherent racism and white privilege are a problem today; what the fuck else is new? But remember this: just like our system of white supremacy continues to oppress people of color (and women, and people of little to no monetary wealth, and people who choose to live outside the law, and children…I could go on all day listing groups of people who are oppressed), so it continues to subliminally instill racist and supremacist propaganda into the human subconscious, and this is true for all races, not just us privileged white folk.
Just like we’re all to blame for being a part of the system and at the same time not to blame because we’re ALL part of the system (even at varying degrees of evasion and escape), so we’re all to blame for allowing racism and privilege to continue. Just because I was “fortunate” enough to be born white doesn’t make it my sole responsibility to crush white privilege, nor would I have any idea how to go about doing that. It’s going to take a significant amount of teamwork and solidarity amongst people of different colors to accomplish that. Otherwise it’ll never happen.
I feel that you’re turning the hostility and exclusion you’ve experienced back on white people, and I can guarantee that’s going to get you nowhere. It’s not easy to do, but I’ve been doing this for years: don’t get mad and treat people how you’ve been treated; prove them wrong. If you feel excluded, go out of your way to make them feel INcluded. Turn the other cheek, passive resistance, all that good shit: teaching by example is the only way we’re going to accomplish anything. People used to pick on me so much in school, and I let it bother me and got pissed off and nothing ever changed. But when I continued to be nice and chill to people that fucked with me, I found over time (not overnight) that began to change, and I sensed quite a bit more respect coming my way.
Let me say another thing: people looking frightened just because they see a person of color walking their direction is a sad thing, but a common one. However, I’ve caught plenty of dirty or fearful looks from people just for a brand on my arm, some piercings, the clothes I wear, etc. I’ve had many people judge me as if I was a completely different race or species for talking openly of my radical ideals or for incessant swearing and the like. People can have a lot of different reasons for fearing someone they don’t know. But if we attack the causes of such fear and ignorance (namely, capitalistic hierarchy, and the elitism and supremacist attitudes it breeds) and educate people about the racial, socioeconomic, sexual, etc. divides that still exist (no matter how much monoculture seems to mimic “equality”), solidarity, tolerance, understanding, and harmony will be significantly more reachable.
Also, don’t rule out the possibility that marginalization of colored people by whites brings about feelings of exclusion and frustration which are not always logically acted upon. If I felt marginalized in a situation, I’m sure I would have a negative instinct to lash out and criticize and judge. But two wrongs don’t make a right. We have to be willing to fearlessly inventory our actions and our strengths and weaknesses, and certainly to admit fault whenever blame can be attributed to ourselves.
I’ll give you an example of how the oppressed can become oppressors: my friend was celebrating his friend’s birthday with her and another guy, and she wanted to go to a club. They went to the club, and the patrons that night turned out to be 100% black, as far as my (white) friend could tell. As soon as he got there he was stared at, given dirty looks, and talked down to. He said people tried to start fights with him all night. What those people should have done was make him feel welcome and attempt to dissolve the barriers between race (wouldn’t have been hard, my friend is as tolerant as a “privileged” white boy can be). Instead, they accentuated the divides by treating him the same way they feel white society has treated them.
This is the problem: our violent, competitive world pits us against each other and instead of attempting to defuse situations by reversing the flow of energy, we as humans frequently seek “punishment” or “justice” or revenge by inflicting the same or similar damage on the perpetrators. This will solve nothing, only send the cycle of oppression, exclusion, and violence into an endless spiral.
So let’s start coming up with ideas for removing our mental blocks and inherent supremacist notions and turn the other cheek when need be. Personally, I’ll bite the bullet and take a slap (or a few brass knucks) to the face any day, if it means the slightest possibility of fostering cooperation and harmony among a diverse group of people.
#2 by Alphonse on January 11, 2010 - 8:06 pm
Why do so many APOCers complain about white radicals and siphon the guilt out of them like vampires?
I mean, damn.
We anti-racist “POC” (what is that anyway? Isn’t “black good enough?”) need the “unenlightened white radical” so that our stances as anti-racists feel justified. In the same way, anarcha-feminists need the “Manarchist” so that they can identify the “unexpected evil growing in our safe circle”, when really, most of the time, people are being straight assholes.
I’ll admit it. I’m an asshole. I think APOC (specifically Philly) consists of a super-guilty circle of people who, after being surrounded by white people and their bullshit, can do nothing but complain about how they’re “not making up for their inherent racism”
Fuck it. I’m a black kid, and it’s fine. I’m sure I am oppressed in some way or other, but I don’t see the sense in exploiting the guilt of well-intentioned but obviously insular activists. Let ‘em figure it out!
I’m just done with going to all-white radical spaces and complaining about how it’s all white. I’d rather just hang out with my real friends of any color, even if they don’t call themselves “anarchist”.
-A.
#3 by Tare on January 2, 2010 - 12:28 pm
Violence over the internet? Interesting concept. Oh, and the power structure, and violence are two seperate things. Just like a ham sandwich and violence are two seperate things, but can be used together. Just like say, violence and religion. Seperate. But can be used together, with great results. How is this letter exploitave to white anarchist? This type of response “christian anarchist”, is exactly the reason there is a neccesity for this letter. Again yer missin the friggin point, this isn’t about “them”, it’s about “their” relationship with us, colored anarchist. This is not a response to a couple of isolated incedences. This is a response to an ancient evil, that manifest itself in everything, down to the plastic keys, im typing on, that were brutally extracted from god knows what poor brown people, by, Hey, you guessed it, a bunch of white people who think they have a right to do so! So excuse us if we’re a little angry, when a white boy who’s never had to deal with a society dominated by people who deem him sub-human, tries to tell you how you should feel, or respond to it, or how you should “practice compassion”, with some motherfucker who’s got a gun pointed at you, wants to lynch you, and rape your partner and daughter,( give the little boy to the priest), or anything for that matter. I noticed that a lot in this society among the anarchist. The majority of them want you to happily deny whats happening to you, or accredit it to sumthin else
there not ready to deal with the fact that white supremacy is real, and it pisses colored people off. This isn’t a text book issue for us, half-way across the world, you comfortable motherfuckers, its in our face. Anger i would say is one of the natural responses to opression, can’t take that away from us Pa. What does any animal, who’s gettin pushed into a corner do? Pacifism is a luxury. Oh, and i love how pacifist can magically turn anything they don’t agree with into something “violent” to demonize it and invalidate it. Fuck you. If white people were emotionally hurt during the making of this letter, they should be thankful they have a better glimpse on the pain that this system “develops” ha, and know when to recognize and identify the consequences of the system. people of Color people know this truth, and don’t have the luxury of ignoring it. And it’s counter productive to anyone with freedom in mind, to try and ignore the complex residual issues of capatalism, including people who fight against it but are still hindered by its constant presence in their lives, like privileged white kids.
#4 by a Christian anarchist on December 18, 2009 - 7:12 am
Although I also thank you for writing this, I do not like the way it has made the white folks who have responded grovel at our feet in fear. It has psychically poisoned them, and I can’t condone this sort of violence. In the Peaceable Kingdom ALL structures of power and exploitation will be demolished, even the one you have constructed with this letter.
My Latina friend was expelled from a meeting once because she looked too white. When will be the day when we can recognize common humanity with our brothers and sisters? Can’t we as people of color be at the forefront of this, or must we fall prey to the violent divisiveness that is wanted and expected of us in this broken world?
#5 by Tare on December 7, 2009 - 11:07 am
You said you don’t know why you bothered going through the trouble of typing this.Being a black anarchist is a VERY isolated existence. This “open letter”, is my life. I’m glad you bothered. We are not alone. Oh, and for all you white “radicals” this applies to, take heed because i am indeed past words. Your fear creates the type of black man you fear, for example im walking down the street. a white woman is approaching with her child. Upon seeing me, (and this is my everyday life white people!), she grabs her child by the hand and moves the child to her other side, hurrying past me. What i could possibly want with her bad ass kid i don’t know but the fact that the vast majority of white people react this way to my presence,(i would say 99%, on a daily basis, and i look very “normal” besides my septum which is only a 16), MAKES ME SO F@#$ING ANGRY, that i want to do unspeakable things to every one who reacts to my presence with fear. But i really love how when i get in to discussions on race theres always some white “radical” who has a deeper insight, into the problem, and enlightens me on how its really an issue of class and they come from a working class irish family or whatever and blah blah blah, no. YOU. DONT. KNOW. PERIOD.
#6 by wrascle on November 29, 2009 - 11:14 am
firstly, thank you for writing this letter.
people reading this who have skin privilege: LISTEN! if we really want to work on our shit, we need to take criticism seriously and openly. we are less than chicken-shit and completely compromised if we do not.
“anger is a grief of distortions between peers, and its object is change. but our time is getting shorter…” – audre lorde
LISTEN TO ANGER. WE MUST NOT BE DEFENSIVE. IF WE ARE, THAT AMOUNTS TO BEING FULLY COMPLICIT in WHITE SUPREMACY. for real.
below here is a great source–a challenge to perpetrators of oppression, to “turn guilt into grief and anger, privilege into accountability, half-hearted apologies into action, complacency into resistance” (from the introduction).
–> Unsettling Ourselves: Reflections and Resources for Deconstructing Colonial Mentality (free download at): http://www.sendspace.com/file/jv4ohd
and every time i got defensive while reading, i put down the book and thought about why. READ IT. *especially you radicals who are serious about not being white supremacists.
#7 by Stephen on August 5, 2009 - 5:22 pm
A great letter. As a white radical, a lot of what’s in here was like a slap in the face.
“Anything smelling of an admission of fault is always layered under such a large heap of self-righteous bullshit that it reminds us, with you at least, an apology is never an apology at all.”
That’s fucking deep.
You wrote that you have no solutions to offer. It isn’t your responsibility to offer solutions to us, as you know. This is one of the things that bugs the shit out of me, when white progressives expect people of color to do their work for them. I know I did for some time, and had to have that beaten out of me. I hope its gone, but it’s a constant struggle to check myself. White supremacy is a tricky, deceitful motherfucker – it holds on, digs deep, hides in the cracks, and won’t let go. When it does come out, it’s disguised as something warm and fuzzy.
#8 by RJH on August 3, 2009 - 2:02 pm
I would like to state the obvious and point out that the comments above (except for Joseph), while clearly written by white people, are not voices of the progressive or radical audience that you are calling to.
I appreciate you taking the time to write this letter, particularly because it is not fair to require you to inform us of our privilege. I try my best to acknowledge systems of power and agree that I have been spoon-fed white supremacy since birth but it is not as simple as being ready to break with our white privilege or not. I address issues of bigotry to the best of my ability when I see them, I try to take constructive criticism of my privileges to heart, and I really have no intentions of insulting or debilitating anyone. If there is more that I can do without flaunting a privilege that I do not think should exist then I will do what I can.
I know that I have more to learn and that is why I was drawn to reading your letter. But your writing is not speaking to progressive allies who are prepared to recognize that their privilege is a problem, you seem to be confronting people who are not ready to listen and outright expressing that you do not expect them to understand. While the majority of what you say is true, the argument is defeatist if everyone could be assumed to be these white progressives and radicals that you describe.
~ RJH
#9 by A. Joseph on August 1, 2009 - 11:13 am
“Your society — and if you’re white, it is your society, regardless of your political pretensions to the contrary — and your way of life are built on a foundation of white supremacy.”
Right on. And to comment number 5: color ain’t just black and white, and APOC is a MOVEMENT, not just this website. AmeriKKKa is just 5% of the worlds population to boot.
#10 by fuckoff on July 31, 2009 - 7:27 pm
An Open Letter to Black People tryin’ ta do dem politics –
You are 13 fucking percent of the U.S. population. Stop acting like because “White peeps iz errywhere” that means you get to play the game like you wuz fiddy fiddy. We’ll let you know when it’s your turn. Until then you can make believe with this dumpy little website.
#11 by deaner on July 31, 2009 - 3:49 am
“white chauvinism is such that white people assume the right to opine on things they know nothing about and make cultural assumptions about people”
this is a cultural assumption of whites. if you’re going to write something why don’t you apply those critiques to yourself dickwad. peace
#12 by see through you on July 30, 2009 - 4:52 pm
this looks like some kind of weird govt. situationist action..
there is no way this many people of color could embrace their colonization to the point of violence without the influence of some kind of govt. programmer being involved..
it is the maintenance of colonization, and unfortunately no one, no matter what “color” they are is exempt from being this stupid.
suckers.