The Folly Of White Allyship In An Era Of ‘Opt-Out’ Culture
This article was originally posted at Water Cooler Convos.
Last week, a group of Texas State University, San Marcos students walked out of class after their Anthropology professor discussed Black Lives Matter and suggested (correctly) that everyone descends from Africa, as reported by The Tab. While there are some conflicting accounts about what transpired that day, namely from the professor himself, the accounts from students suggest that there was at least some pushback about the historical origins of the human race specifically because it meant that we all come from African Diasporic peoples.
As dialogue erupted on the matter via Twitter, one user asked why there would be any argument about this fact since it is clearly true, to which another user simply responded, “cause they’re racist…?” And as I reflected on their response, I wished the answer was that simple. But it’s not.
https://twitter.com/amvrion/status/788426563209408512/photo/1
While the issue may seem trite, it points to a much deeper problem with addressing and teaching race in the United States. Too often, we forget that new millennials (I recently found out I am an “old” millennial), namely those who identify as White, rarely have to face the complexities of race in America. They are the most segregated educationally and residentially. They are just as racist as their parents. Frankly, given the stark separation many young White people experience from people of color, they have no real incentive to care about racial inequalities in the United States. It’s just not something that affects their day-to-day lives. Thus, many of them simply opt-out of the conversation altogether.
This is what happened at Texas State last week. Some young White people, whether it was two or twenty of them, were confronted with the realities that Black people exist and are also worth investigating as citizens navigating the social landscape of the US who are, in fact, breathing.
It happens in classrooms, shopping malls, kitchens, and public spaces all over the country when White people – who have no incentive or desire to engage in critical dialogue or even simple historical discussion – are confronted with the fact that people of color, particularly Black people, actually exist and they have vastly different experiences with citizenship, survival, and prosperity in this country. Now, I am not suggesting that we should consume ourselves with the “blindspots” of the White Gaze. Nor do I think that we should take this example as an expository lesson for our own behavior. Rather, instances like these only further confirm the fact that as long as White people have the option to acknowledge and recognize the existence of Black people, they have no place in Black liberation.
The choice to remain ignorant of one’s own history is just that, a choice. However, the systematic deliberateness of the imperial project of whiteness (the long, historical process that transformed race into a guiding economic and social principle in the western world) necessitates not only eradicating simple truths like that of the origin of the human race, it also requires that those un-assimilable individuals, those people deemed too unsavory, too different, too nonnormative, to deviant and too Black, disappear altogether. When those students walked out of the classroom, they were not just making a political statement to their peers who remained, they were opting out of the existence of those truths. They were, in essence, saying “nawl blackness, not today. Not ever.”
For me, that redounds to larger movements and this new fangled thing called “allyship.” It leads me to question how White folx can ever truly engage in the project of dismantling the imperial project of whiteness if it’s their literal reality. Yes, there is a lot to unpack here but, what I think is most important is that instances like these not be tossed aside, reduced, and labeled abruptly as just plain old-fashioned “racism.”
Sure, this is racist. But, it is also part-and-parcel with a system of white supremacy that has heretofore run just as planned. This behavior is not errant, random, isolated or new. All that has changed about it is that we have smart phones to capture it for the rest of the world to witness.
Photo via Twitter
I’m curious — are you saying you don’t want white allies, because they don’t have skin in the game? If so, would you extend that to Jewish people who look white? They clearly have skin in the game, as is especially obvious this election. How about Greeks? There’s much less racism against them now in the US, but the same wasn’t true historically and is not true in parts of Europe. How about Roma? I’m not sure that’s what you’re arguing, as you said there was lots to unpack — but I read parts as arguing that white allies may be unable to actually be allies.
As much as I hated reading Freire’s explanation of this, I think he does have a point that projects of liberation cannot be carried out by those who were in the position of the oppressors, even well-meaning ones. Liberation as a project must be lead by those who were oppressed — their voices are needed. I re-read the chapter in pedagogy of the oppressed several times before coming to an understanding that I can accept — one that doesn’t posit one group or the other as more important, but rather argues that it’s impossible to liberate a people from outside; they must be the leaders in their own liberation, and for that to happen we (who are outside) must give them space to do so.
But — at the same time, I’m pretty convinced that (in addition to being less successful) attempts to resist oppression will simply reproduce those systems of oppression if you do it without trying to find allies outside the group you see as your in-group.
And about the original incident: it sounds like the claim is that some of the students in class walked out or argued with uncomfortable facts because they were racist. But based on that, arguing that all white folks are racist is itself using racial stereotypes in a way that is unfair; as I said, I think this just reproduces the systems of oppression.
I think you do have a point that being part of the dominant culture (even in a way that is tenuous, as some with white skin experience) does make it easier to ignore oppression, and many may also see it as in their narrow self-interest to do so. But the question isn’t just the hand we’re each dealt — but what we choose to do with it. If you ignore the latter in favor of focusing only on the former (and I’ll grant there’s lots of inequity, so this is easy to do) — then you’re focusing on mechanical or statistical responses to stimuli rather than a focusing on humanization and liberation.
I stumbled upon this article and read it out of curiosity. I was surprised by its biased remarks and felt I needed to comment. It looks like there’s a lot of presumption on the part of the author. I don’t see any sourcing to back up the claim that the students walked out of class because they can’t accept that there are black people in the world. It’s not even fair to assume the students are racist for doing it. They may be guilty of ignorance, but we can’t even be sure of that until we interview them, can we?
This is an anthropology class we’re talking about. A class that teaches the history and origins of cultures and peoples from all over the world. It isn’t at all a course that runs along side the beliefs of many religions common to the United States. In fact, it’s another one of those science courses that completely debunks a lot of what typical Christianity believes, such as evolution and the age of the Earth. I’m not suggesting that the students who walked out of class are religious zealots or even fundamentally Christian, but it is an alternative possibility.
An even crazier possibility is that the students simply refused to believe that all people originated from Africa. I had a woman get all up in my face one time for even suggesting humans were evolved from apes! It didn’t have anything at all to do with religion or race, she just refused to believe she was “descended from an animal.” Did that make her a speciest? Not necessarily, but it sure made her ignorant.
I see a big part of the race issue in this country being caused by people blowing situations out of proportion and quickly jumping to assumptions that are most likely wrong. I’ve experienced racism, discrimination and negative treatment before, and I imagine most other people have, too, no matter what their race is. There’s always going to be people who hate other people for whatever reason they deem fit. It’s a disease that seems to be spreading among racists and non-racists alike out of anger and paranoia. Fortunately it’s a disease we can choose not to get infected with, but in order to do that, we have to be pretty secure and confident with who we are ourselves.