White Supremacy is a problem for White People
White Supremacy is a problem for White people.
I have been saying this more and more in the different discussions I have had about race lately. It seems almost counterintuitive, but I think many Black people understand where I’m coming from.
Black people are no strangers to the consequences of white supremacy, slavery, segregation, and institutional racism. Notably, Black people have been relegated to property, lynched, suffered family separation, and have been subject to disproportionately unfair imprisonment and police brutality. It seems like Black people should be saying white supremacy is a clear and present problem for Black people.
It’s not a “Black” problem though. It’s a problem White people have that is an ever present and immediate danger to the livelihood of every Black person. Black people know a lot about white supremacy and are especially attuned to racism because it is literally a matter of life and death for Black people.
Privilege for White people is that they have a problem that doesn’t threaten their livelihood. At least not in the obvious ways it threatens Black livelihood. However, the insurrection on January 6, has completely changed that calculus. Without a doubt white supremacy was a very large part of the attempted overthrow of the government and because of that it is now a clear and present problem for White people who still want to live in a free country.
How White people engage with the problem of White supremacy is incredibly consequential not only for Black people but for everyone in America no matter how they identify. This has always been the case, but the current moment puts it into stark relief.
In his “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” Martin Luther King Jr. talked about the purpose of nonviolent protest, what he called “direct action.” He said “Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It seeks so to dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored.”
It is ironic that white supremacists would use Martin Luther King’s principles to project their hateful ideas. It is no surprise that they were unable to stick to nonviolent protest without it devolving into angry violence. Still, the result has been the same. The insurrection on January 6th has so dramatized the problem of white supremacy that now White people must confront the awful truth of it. The white supremacy that has for so long been the bane of Black existence is now on the doorstep of White America and they must do something to avoid being oppressed by it.
I can’t profess to know all that it will take for White people to eradicate white supremacy, but I do know the first step is to admit the extent of the problem. However, America is lacking even the cognitive tools to admit the extent of white supremacy. White conservatives gaslight themselves into the belief that they are not racist even though they support politicians who implement patently racist policies. Donald Trump incited an insurrection and his call to arms was answered by groups with large numbers of white supremacists among them. How could this be if his supporters and allies aren’t racist? Over 70 million Americans voted for Donald Trump and most of them would insist they aren’t racist despite the mountain of evidence that Donald Trump is a racist.
Up until now White people have been able to do a tap dance with white supremacy. As long as they aren’t attending Ku Klux Klan rallies and wearing white sheets, they can’t be defined as white supremacists. However, large numbers of White people either downplay the effects of racism in society, treat it as a theoretical concept, or are simply indifferent to it. It is this state of affairs that made it easy for large numbers of people to vote Trump into office.
Likewise, there are many people who did not vote for Trump who accept white supremacy as a reality of life even though they understand that it is wrong. These people simply want to be able to say to that they are not white supremacists because either they didn’t vote for Trump or they are not actively participating in racist groups. But when it comes to the hard work of deconstructing white supremacy, they can’t seem to find the courage to make a stand.
In the final analysis, making a stand is the point. The polarized nature of our politics and the extreme action that white supremacists are willing to take to endanger the security of other White people demands that Whites who do not want to be subjugated and have their freedoms taken away take an active stand against it.
This means they will have to take a long hard look at themselves, their friends, their neighbors, and their coworkers and oppose white supremacy wherever it appears. This means that White moderates who see themselves as the furthest thing from white supremacy, will have to come to grips with the fact that order cannot exist, and America cannot be secure until white supremacy is eradicated.
To quote Dr. King again, the White moderate must understand that “law and order exist for the purpose of creating justice.” When white supremacy is allowed to fester and grow unchecked, it is a threat to the very foundations of America. Black people have suffered under the boot of white supremacy, but it is a problem for White people. Minorities can help them identify and define the problem, but they must root it out and destroy it. This means White progressives, liberals, moderates, independents, and conservatives must do something they have often neglected to do. They must check themselves.