White Guilt Anti-Suicide Post
I’ve observed people of color who I follow get these asks from suicidal white people who have just realized the extent of their race’s damages enacted against humankind and fallen into a depression as a result. They ask if they should kill themselves, and the response they get will be something like “Woah, no! Quick, read this!” with “this” linking to the standard resources for suicidal individuals. While those are decent for suicide in general, they do very little to address the matter at hand. Race politics are not usually discussed in anti-suicide materials, so I’ll write a specialized one myself here, from one flawed white person to some others.
I’ll share advice based on my own experiences in dealing with suicidal thought. I drew great strength from a King Arthur movie in which Arthur gave advice to a suicidal knight (paraphrased): “If you must die, die serving a greater purpose… or, better, live and serve.”
This inspired me to become outspoken about feminism. Service to feminism is the greater purpose that I chose. For this context, racial equality seems a fitting purpose for these white people to serve.
Now, the “die serving a greater purpose” part of the line is only relevant to the movie, where Arthur was at war and trying to recruit the knight to his side. In the case of racial equality or feminism, dying accomplishes nothing. There is no literal war being fought.
I’m sure the thought of suicide-attack upon a hateful demagogue flits through the brain at this point, but that is antithetic to the purpose of a social justice movement. Aside from being a reprehensible act of murder morally and ethically wrong from every standpoint, it does nothing for the cause. Ideas are greater than the people preaching them, and martyrs only perpetuate such ideology among those willing to believe.
It may also occur to some that suicide would serve the greater cause of racial equality because it removes the presence of a white person who would cause distress to people of color through natural actions as the result of privilege, but such impact is negligible if the person is fully aware of themselves and willing to “live and serve” the greater movement. It is comparable to a carbon footprint. While suicide removes further carbon output, a living environmentalist speaking out about reducing the carbon footprint on a societal level is more valuable to the movement than one more dead human.
To “live and serve” in this case would be to be a good ally to people of color. To speak out against racism where it is apparent and support people of color when they speak. Many resources for white allies are available online.
