When a person of color, especially if they’re black like me, affirms their support for causes such as queer liberation, feminism, animal rights, or socialism, I immediately feel that I can believe, with minimal doubt, that they’re truly convicted and principled in what they’re advocating for.
However, when a white person claims to support leftism, until my skepticism is proven wrong, I immediately assume they’re a dishonest and performative libshit. I then proceed to interact with them with hefty amounts of caution. If my assumptions are proven true, I’m never shocked.
If White people collectively want trust, they can show and prove that they deserve it. Til then, the very idea that a lasting accord can be found in the plantation empire is honestly kinda laughable to me; and informs my research into valid presentations of Black Nationalism (we don’t do that Black Hebrew or NFAC shit here). There is still a bill 400 years long that hasn’t even started to be paid back yet, and frankly, I’ve lost the faith that it even will be paid back without organized and disciplined formation.
I think people (myself included tbf im not going to act all high and mighty about this) are insecure about the idea that they’re ontologically evil because they’re white. Idk
Edit: it does seem like a toxic and silly thing to be insecure about. No one owes us trust.
I would hope people are uncomfortable with being labeled ontologically evil purely on the basis of their skin color; that’s a ridiculous notion that is not remotely leftist.
Well, the thing is that no one is saying we’re ontologically evil. It’s just something people ASSUME they’re saying because they say they don’t trust us. It’s understandable to feel hurt but it doesn’t mean you’re ontologically evil if someone can’t afford to trust you
How much distance is there between “I wouldn’t trust you in almost any situation” and “you’re a bad person by your very nature”?
Statistics instead of essentialism