"To be Black in America is to have a knee against your neck every day."
"Aboriginal leaders in Canada say that just because we did not institute the structures of our white forebears does not mean that we do not benefit downstream."
A close relative saw the post, The Case for Reparations, (a long essay about the history of Black repression in the U.S.), and in response merely indicated that these things happen and moved on . . .
Another close relative who did not read the piece would simply reject the content or if briefly acknowledged as true, indicate that all that needs to be done is rise above it, and move on . . .
The interview highlighted with philosopher George Yancy is another gut-wrenching article. Deeply troubling in its overall assertion:
For me, “white America” is a structural lie. And by this, I mean that it was/is predicated upon abstract ideals that it never intended to apply to Black people or people of color. And even where there is “progress” for those of us whose lives don’t matter, it is important to recognize that such alleged progress occurs within the framework of white interests. The critical race theorist Derrick Bell made this clear with his theory of interest convergence, which shows that racial justice for Black people only happens when white and Black interests converge. So, the implication is that Black progress is tolerated as long as it doesn’t fundamentally challenge white interests. This still prioritizes whiteness.
In deeply troubling ways that would make my relatives howl foul, it questions “white ontology itself.” In other words, our very being on the planet is to benefit from structural whiteness downstream from the domination of nonwhites the world over: it’s in the white structural DNA of colonization/domination across the planet.
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