Creepy Things White People Think It's OK To Say About Race
When members of the Black Lives Matter movement
hijacked the stage at a Bernie Sanders rally, people got mad. That anger was similar to the anger that sprang up in forums and comment sections all across the Internet after it was reported that
a black man had shot at police officers
during a peaceful protest in Ferguson, Missouri, honoring the one-year anniversary of Michael Brown's death.
The general reaction to these events across the Internet was, to me, fascinating. I'd never really seen anything like it before. I don't want to call it racism, but it was sinister. It wasn't horrifying, but it was deplorable. It wasn't loud, vocal hatred and disgust of a race. No, it was a calm, even-toned condescension, the kind a disappointed parent would lob at a mischievous teen going through a rebellious phase. The general consensus could be summed up by saying, "You're not helping."
And that's true, on the surface. Yeah, Bernie Sanders maybe isn't the best protest target.
Look at him. Don't you just want to soak his dentures and make sure he drinks his Ensure?
And firing shots at cops probably isn't going to be healing wounds as much as causing countless new ones. But the reason these things even happened to begin with seems to elude most people. In order to understand the why, you have to understand the complicated reasons people are driven to such actions.
When a society makes a race of people feel like subordinates and has repeatedly shown its willingness to harm or kill them for little or no cause so often that it's best described as "too
fucking
often," you can't be surprised when some members of that group become angry, maybe even militant. Some overcome the ensuing rage and try to find a peaceful solution. But anger is a difficult emotion to bottle, especially when it's centered around something as stupid as fearing for your life because of what you look like.
Let's put that maddening feeling into stupidly common terms we can all understand: Have you ever been driven crazy because someone didn't understand a very basic idea you were trying to explain? Like you were trying to explain to your technophobic parents how to use the remote control to the 75-inch smart TV they bought for no reason? No matter how you phrase it, they just don't get that if they want to watch Netflix all they've got to do is push the gigantic red button with the Netflix logo right in the middle of the remote.
The frustration of that builds with every passing second in which your well-meaning parents don't understand that
all they've got to do is hit one clearly marked button. One button, that's it! It's right there, dad. Mom, please, the button isn't in another room. Good Lord. Why would you even think that?
Now imagine if that was your entire life. Everywhere you go you encounter at least one person who distrusts or even hates you because of something as simple, uncomplicated, and uncontroversial as your race. Think of the super-human levels of patience and acceptance, the near saintly degree of tranquility one would need to not lose their fucking mind every day.
The lack of understanding when it comes to that one point informs the public reaction to these recent news stories -- stories that have given people reason to be
just a bit
gross as they hide their true feelings behind the "They're ruining their own cause!" argument. You don't have to agree with their approaches (I don't), but you have to at least understand why
people choose to express their anger more viscerally. It's not because they're stupid or they don't know any better. It's because they're angry, more angry than you've ever been, about things you will never truly understand.
Ever. Right now, screaming at everyone is the only thing keeping some people centered in the midst of confusion. In every protest movement there is always a faction that believes giving into the easy appeal of anger, rage, and even violence is the best response. It more than likely isn't. But the logic behind it is difficult to argue against: For years we spoke and were ignored. Will they keep ignoring us if we scream and make a mess, if we disrupt lives and precious schedules just so we can finally be heard?
People think hate is only when Hitler is screaming from a podium or the Klan is burning a cross on a lawn. It can also be a concerned, caring tone that masks contempt. It could be a patronizing moral stance from someone who has the right intention but whose life did not prepare them to truly know what they're talking about. Of the two, the second person is the most prevalent right now. It's a group of people who have a macro view of right and wrong, informed by their lives being devoid of a grander form of struggle. To them, right and wrong are clearly defined, because it's all theory, general concepts. It's like zooming way out in Google Maps and seeing a solid digital line showing what has to be a street, but then you zoom in all the way and it's a dirt road that at one point disappears into a marsh.
"I told you we should have made a left at the Mask Of Contempt! Now we're stuck in all this Patronizing Stance!"
