On White Supremacy and the Anniversary of the Murder of Michael Brown
For the past year, since the murder of Michael Brown on August 9, 2014, the voices whom have always told us that black lives matter have been heard by those who had for too long tuned out the suffering and struggle of Others.
“Others” with a capital “O” because that is how our society and our laws have designated black bodies. As Other. As Less. As Dangerous.
But the real danger is not coming from black communities, it’s coming to them. The State has always tried to impose control over black bodies and despite generations of resistance, the racism with which we built our social and legal institutions has proven too strong, too deep, and ultimately too valuable to our system of heteronormative, capitalist, patriarchal, white supremacy.
Darren Wilson is responsible for the murder of Michael Brown; white supremacy is responsible for allowing him to murder without consequences; and white people are responsible for allowing white supremacy to continue in our modern day, long after we have told ourselves that we have moved beyond it.
You don’t need to call someone the n-word to be a racist- your silence and inaction in the face of a state-sanctioned black genocide- where a black person is killed by police every 28 hours- speaks for you.
The persistent, passionate, and relentless activism that I have witnessed be organized and carried out by black people over this past year is the best and most inspirational that I have ever seen.
They declare, simply and profoundly, that their lives matter and they aren’t going to politely or respectfully request your attention- they will rightly demand it. You will no longer be able to ignore their cries in comfort.
People are not just dying. They are being murdered. They are being murdered by those whom in theory are supposed to protect them. Their resistance to this injustice is effective because it makes you uncomfortable. Your comfort zone is the status quo and the status quo is white supremacy. You should be grateful that that is being disrupted. You should join in its disruption. To not challenge the status quo is to accept it, and to accept it is to accept white supremacy. It’s your choice, but you have to understand the significance of your decision.
It has been one year since the murder of Michael Brown. For one year, black activists and allies of all races have fought not only for their right to live but for their right to matter; for people to care about their lives enough to say that when they are murdered, that is a crime deserving of justice; that when they play in the park across from their house they are able to make it home safely; that when they are pulled over for a minor traffic violation they aren’t unlawfully arrested; that when they attend a pool party they don’t leave with a broken jaw, and on and on and on.
Why is that such a difficult concept? A lot of people will say, “It’s not. That makes a lot of sense. Of course black people should be safe from harassment and brutality and murder.” But if so many people supposedly believe that, why is it still happening with such horrific and traumatic frequency?
It’s happening because racism is more than an idea. It’s more than a feeling. It’s more than an ignorant, personal prejudice.
Racism is institutional. It is coded into our laws, our public policy, school curriculum, employment practices, entertainment, language, in access to public services and housing, standards of beauty and respectability, etc.
You cannot get rid of racism by not using the n-word.
You have to fundamentally restructure the institutions which have held white supremacy in place so well for so long that it seems natural and inevitable.
And you cannot do that and maintain “respectability.” Falling into the trap of respectability politics means being obedient to white supremacy and it would be as dangerous as it is pointless to allow a system of oppression to dictate appropriate responses for your resistance of it.
White supremacy does not respect black people, so why should black people or their allies respect the institutions of white supremacy? You don’t change the rules by following them. You don’t start a revolution by asking for permission.