Try walking into a group of Black people and bringing up Candace Owens or Stacey Dash. You’ll find out quick that no, Black people for the most part don’t think “every single one of them is good.” But sure, in general, our instinct is to give other Black people the benefit of the doubt, because no one else will. Black people can commit the same crime (dealing cannabis is a major one) and get a disproportionate punishment. Yes I will defend a Black weed dealer sentenced to 25 years when there are 100s of white dealers for every convicted black dealer who are never arrested, let alone put away. Mass Incarceration is real, it targets Black people doing the same things that are written off as “youthful indiscretion (no need to ruin the kid’s life)” when white people do it. That’s reality. But no one is saying Black people are incapable of bad things.
Anyway. If you’re uncomfortable riding the train because you (and I saw your tag saying you’re not white) are afraid people of color might not like you looking at them, maybe you should be conscious of whether you’re being racist. What do you think that Black commuter will do to you? Are you only in proximity to Black people on mass transit? Maybe you are, in fact, microaggressing. Even if you’re not a white person.
As it happens, Robin DiAngelo, who wrote the article linked in the OP, is a white person. She coined the phrase “white fragility.” If your takeaway is that the “extreme” of DiAngelo’s writing is that there is no shared ground, you’ve missed the point completely. She is a proponent of empathy. Folks who can’t muster it for Black people are going to feel attacked. That’s not equivalent to a person experiencing structural racism.
turnnoffyourmind
andulkaphoto
tangentwithtanner
blakekathryn
