ive got a few observations abt antiblackness in progressive spaces that i want to get off my chest, so pls forgive me for being serious for a moment
thereās a troubling amount of nonblack ppl in progressive spaces who will do their level best to put on a show that they care about black issues, only to prove through both action and inaction that they probably donāt spend much time thinking abt those issues on their own time
what inspired this post was actually my mixed frustration and amusement at meme culture. there are so many memes circulating, especially on this website, that were either originated BY black people or created by people explicitly mocking black the way black people talk, that have an amazing shelf life here. nonblack people will find their way to the latest Funny Black Phrase, overuse it, irritate each other for using it too much, and then sometimes turn around and make fun of black people for just talking the way we talk. thereās a wealth of research and information on aave, on its complex history, on its uniqueness as a dialect, but itās time and again been reduced to āgen z slang,ā when nonblack people 9 times out of 10 donāt use it right. to be clear, iām not criticizing you for giggling at pictures of the little among us bean folk with acrylics and painted lips, and i donāt expect you to be able to escape the ubiquitous āall my homies hate xā and ādamn shawty okā pics, but it IS concerning when i see people on here complaining about how overused they are or making jokes about how funny the gays are when it like. didnāt come from you lol. the same people with BLM and ACAB in their bios will bully black people for their features, and make jokes about how they talk, and covertly ignore them or talk around the issue when called out for it. (if youāre thinking of a corny popular leftist on this website whoās done just that, your gut feeling is probably right--the shoe fits for multiple people.)
it is how time and again black people, often to each other, will point out antiblackness in popular media, only to be met with an avalanche of excuses. time and again people on here talk about how media is a good way to learn moral lessons, while proving through action that what theyād love is to just absorb media in search of the next hot ship instead of stopping to consider how that media distills harmful ideas. you canāt talk out of both sides of your mouth. does media impact real life or does it not? when do you draw the line?
i am irritated with marginalized people who, time and again, complain about the āattentionā that black lives matter got in comparison to their issues, and i am especially irritated with marginalized people who make these posts and have the gall to directly demand that black people get involved. chances are we would have gotten involved anyways. it is well documented that black people have lent their time, care, and solidarity to people pushing for radical change. whether you meant to do it or not, you are implying that your movement has not gotten the attention it deserved directly because black people arenāt doing enough, and that is deeply unkind. people are still protesting. the āworkā is not done, and hyper visibility will never mean progress.
iām terrified of getting covid because, as a black woman, iāve had to contend with doctors dismissing my pain for my entire life & i feel in my bones that i would not receive adequate care. there was a period in 2020 where i was afraid to go outside because i live in a city with a very small black population and i didnāt want to be black in the wrong place at the wrong time. i grew up in the deep south with a family that struggled with the scars of intergenerational disadvantages. my dad got polio young and it left him permanently disabled. when desegregation began, he was bullied for being both black and physically disabled. hearing stories about his worst experiences, spun as fables about why i should always think twice about trusting white people, was a huge part of my childhood. trauma is my inheritance. at the same time, so is my culture. my hair, my music, my clothes, the way i talk--that is important to me. black american culture specifically is a culture that rose out of adversity. it is the culture of a people who had their history cruelly and deliberately misplaced. evidently, people like it--at least, the parts of it they can cherry pick for consumption!
i often think to myself that a lot of people want racism, and specifically antiblackness, to manifest in overt ways. they want to see people being refused service. they want to hear slurs and insults. sure, antiblackness is often direct. my anon is off and itās not coming back on because people have sent me extremely violent messages behind the veil of anonymity for saying things they donāt agree with. but please donāt forget that antiblackness is apathy too. antiblackness is entitlement. antiblackness is people harshly berating black voters for expressing disenchantment with a democratic party that routinely leaves them in the dust. antiblackness is also performatively thanking black voters for āsaving you.ā black people who voted in this most recent election especially did not do it for you. we did it for ourselves and our families.
i take umbrage with the idea of allies and allyship because it implies there is an even amount of reciprocity in relationships between those in the margins and those in the center. i think better words are āenablersā and āco conspirators,ā because those are titles that you have to earn. it is not enough to just say that you care--if you have BLM in your header, i expect you to show it, too. black people do not owe you politeness, we do not owe you our activism, and we especially do not owe you a neatly worded essay on why you should care about us.
