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Over the past 48 hours I've been on a rampage on Insta Stories (AKA The Ivy League Extension) sharing facts, opinions and my personal stream of consciousness on the subjects of racism, anti-blacknes, white offense and neutrality.
Our centuries-long battle with racism is, as we know, underpinned in white supremacy - under which conveys humanity as 'white people' and everyone else as ’Other’, evidenced by the ongoing sub-humane treatment we often face at the hands of white civilians and authoritative figures who are rarely ever brought to book. It’s important to note that Black people are being oppressed by structural racism across the globe however, right now we’re focused on America where the WHOLE HOUSE is on fire! And it looks a lot like Genocide.
RIP George Floyd - this week Tuesday video footage arose of 4 police officers responding to a call from a grocery store that thought Floyd, a black male, had forged a cheque (as far as I’m currently aware, this claim remains unfounded). An officer named Derek Chauvin cuffed Floyd, positioned him face-down in the street, and proceeded to kneel on his neck for at least 9 minutes. George repeatedly said “I can’t breath” and pleaded for his life before he become motionless and died. Video evidence shows he was not resisting as the officer claimed, in fact he could barely move or breathe.
Do not feel compelled to watch the footage as it’s very traumatic however, if you do decide to watch it, please do not share it with other BLACK people. Instead SHARE IT WITH YOUR WHITE FRIENDS. This is genocide and it needs to break our echo chambers
Your white friends cannot continue to sit in silence and claim neutrality - they engage and profit from black culture, they produce children of mixed heritage with us and most importantly, white privilege means they benefit from structural racism whether they like it or not - and since neutrality fuels racism, their silence on the matter makes them complicit to it. So in short - if they are not with us, they’re against us. We don’t need white saviours we need them to back us up with their privilege within their spheres of influence across all sectors during this battle.
And if you’re a black person with a bunch of close white friends and/or a white partner, and you go silent on matters of race to the point where they don’t know your stance on the matter, then I’m afraid you are just the token compliant negro. THIS IS YOU
Let’s talk about Amy Cooper the white woman who made a sham 911 call about Christian Cooper, a Black, Male, Harvard Alum and Bird Watcher. Amy was walking her unleashed dog in Central Park while Christian Cooper was bird-watching. Mr Cooper asked Amy to put her dog on a leash (as per the park signage) and she went into FULL-ON KAREN MODE, she promptly and aggressively invaded Mr Cooper’s personal space, began shouting and held her dog leash up close to him while pointing frantically in his face (sooo not the instinctive actions of a woman who genuinely felt vulnerable and frightened). It was every bit as performative as BBQ Becky’s Oakland charade but watching Amy perform faux vulnerability, faux victimhood, and make a falsified report against a black male IN CENTRAL PARK! Had all the makings of The Central Park 5 and Emmett Till’s murder. COMBINED.
Throughout the entire ordeal Mr Cooper did not move, nor touch her, nor approach her, nor raise his voice. SHE WAS THE AGGRESSOR and amid her fake hysteria she almost choked her dog. The vast majority of initial concern surrounding the palaver was re: the dog’s wellbeing - no surprises there. The Dog got confiscated and Amy lost her job. But she wasn't charged with wasting police time, falsifying a report, nothing... no real consequences.
Understanding the difference between unconscious bias and racism - Amy Cooper’s apology claimed she was ignorant as to how white privilege operates and how it affords her the luxury of being served & protected by the very same police force that kills black people for breathing. Yet the detail of her sham 911 report was built upon Mr Cooper’s race and the fact she found him “threatening”. The most vile part of the footage shows Amy telling Mr Cooper the exact details of the false accusations she was going to make BEFORE EVEN PLACING THE CALL and I quote “I’m going to call the police and tell them an African-American man is threatening me and my Dog”.
Let the record reflect her charade for what it is - RACISM. Amy knew how white privilege operated and knew exactly how she would benefit from it in this situation. She knew how performative white fragility works and she put on a right bleeding show. She was also acutely aware that the police view African-American men as threats to society and tend to unnecessarily escalate situations involving black people. This woman is a pathological liar, who lied to the police and lied to the public.
Amanda Seales had THIS to say and I agree.
Anyway, just 24 hours after the story broke, Christian Cooper’s Bird-Watching behind swooped in for the save. I mean, they do share a surname so somewhere down the line her ancestors could’ve potentially OWNED his ancestors... I dunno, the Stockholm Syndrome runs deep on this one.
America and the entire western world has a long history of protecting white women under any and all circumstances. They're positioned as the embodiment of all things beautiful, fragile and most needing of protection, so the eerie correlation to Emmett Till’s murder was chilling, but unsurprising.
Remember Carolyn Bryant Donham? She was the white woman who in lied to the police, the courts, and the would-be murderers of 14-year-old Emmett Till. Carolyn said Emmett “grabbed me around the waist and uttered obscenities”. This statement led to Till’s heinous lynching in one of the most notorious crimes in America’s history at the time. After 6 decades of silence Carolyn confessed her lies to Timothy Tyson, a white male Author. What did Tyson do you ask? He protected her of course. Her confession was placed under restriction until 2036. Carolyn Bryant Donham is currently 86 years old... you do the maths.
So don’t get me wrong, I think Christian Cooper’s plea for Amy's life is an inherently good-willed gesture, it’s just hard to watch him try to save her while black mothers have for centuries cried for their slain children who died because of women like her.
So how do we move forward? I don't know. What I do know is we require protective legislation, policy and equitable black agendas. First and foremost we need white people to stop with the complicity and silence. Racism is a learned white disease and can therefore only be broken within the white home. So while black parents are having “The Talk” with their children on how to stay alive, white people need to start having a talk with theirs. On that note I’ll leave you with a poignant question posed by @Jahna Riley who asked:
“White People, what are you doing to ensure that you are raising children who won't kill mine”.
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