There’s a picture going around of a man punching another man in the face. The puncher is white, and so is the punchee, however, the punchee is also an identified protester at the Charlottesville white supremacist protest that happened a few days ago. He also is pictured doing the Nazi salute:
If you followed this picture on Twitter, you might see reactions like these:
These reactions were 100% from white people. And that makes sense, right? What African American would defend a KKK member’s right to “free speech”? That African American understands that someone who is part of the KKK uses their “speech” as a battering ram, which isn’t equal to the way a black person can exercise their right to free speech.
Free speech is a right in this country. Free speech is also not equal by any means.
Close your eyes and imagine this: a protest. With tiki torches in hand. And hateful rhymes being chanted by thousands of people.
Now, imagine this: they’re all black. Or middle eastern. Or just not white.
What came next in the picture in your head? Was it the Charlottesville police? Was it the national guard? Was it gunshots, or mace, or smoke bombs? Police dogs barking? Arrests being made? Protesters being beaten?
Do you think it would have mattered to #45 if those black protesters had a permit?
Free speech is not equal because when a group of thousands of white nationalists, Neo-Nazis, and KKK members got together to protest (don’t forget that they were protesting the removal of a Confederate statue) there was no national guard. There were no gunshots, mace, smoke bombs, police dogs, arrests, or really any legitimate denouncement, disapproval, or dissuasion from the government.
What was there? A counter-protest.
Who got killed? A counter-protester.
And now, where are we? What’s the answer to this? The president seems to think that new jobs coming into the country will solve race relations. He said that many times over the last few days, but for some reason, I’m just not buying that.
No, what’s the actual answer to this? Well, amongst other things, white allies.
And what’s one of the most real problems? White silence.
See, here’s the thing about all those pesky –isms, and all that oppression that comes with them: most of the time, the racists, the sexists, the xenophobes and homophobes, they aren’t actually the majority. They’re actually, usually, the minority!
So, how, you might ask, do they come to get away with it?
Cue the Silent Whiteman.
For every Silent Whiteman, the racists get a green light. They don’t get checked, they don’t get reprimanded, hell they don’t get punched! So they gain power. They gain momentum. And by the white man being silent, they gain acceptance.
And you know what allows the Silent Whiteman to be silent? His skin color! When you’re a POC, and you witness what happened in Charlottesville, you do not even have the option to be silent. It becomes do or die for you, so you do what you have to do.
But when you’re white, and you see what happened, you have a few options. One of those options is to speak up. Another one is to bank on the fact that, hey, they're the minority, they'll never get anywhere. You conveniently forget that A) that minority happens to include the President of the United States and his closest advisors, and B) Remember Hitler? He started with a few dozen followers. So you don’t say anything. You tell yourself it doesn’t make you a racist—I mean, you didn’t own slaves—and you continue with your life as was.
You might talk about how tragic it is with your family or friends. You might even get sad when you watch the news. But not only does your Facebook feed stay devoid of so much as a share of an article about this, but your actions and your words remain silent.
Well, I hate to break it to you, Silent Whiteman, but now it is your fault.
No, Silent Whiteman, you didn’t own slaves. And no, you would never say the n-word. Of course, you aren’t racist, you have a black friend for Pete’s sake. You might, therefore, think that what is happening to POC in America today isn’t your fault.
WAKE UP SILENT WHITEMAN!
The longer you keep your voice silent, the louder the voices of the crazy white supremacists get, and the voices of all the POC they want to oppress are getting more and quieter. The longer you keep still, more POC are being incarcerated, more innocent protesters are getting run over by cars, and more KKK members and Neo-Nazis get to keep on doing their fascist thing without anyone standing in their way, all while you continue to convince yourself that you aren't racist.
POC can’t do it on their own. If they could, then they would have conquered racism by now. It’s most obviously a battle nobody can win on their own, especially members of an extremely oppressed group, so Silent Whiteman, you no longer have an excuse to be silent.
If you are a Silent Whiteman, you might as well just join arms with a KKK member and get a swastika tattooed on your chest as far as I’m concerned. You’re either with us or with them, and if you “aren’t sure”, are “neutral”, or are silent, then you’re with them.
So, white people, how do we fix the Silent Whiteman problem? We have to get loud, but we also have to listen before we get loud. We need to listen to the people who are actually oppressed. I’m white, and my boyfriend is black, and one of the best ways I can help him is by listening to him tell me about his experience, his reality, his life. And I believe him. And I ask him questions. And I respect what he is telling me and I then use my white, privileged voice see how I can help stop what is plaguing him and anyone alike.
I speak as loud as I can alongside him, and I will never for a second allow myself to be silent, because my voluntary silence could be what forces his voice to be silent, too.
And then? We speak up, louder than ever. We attend protests. We call our congress people. We make it known that we do not approve of what is happening because we know that just because we didn’t personally own slaves, we as white people will be part of the problem if we don’t join forces with the solution. We at the very least share anti-white supremacy articles on facebook and occasionally, we punch Nazis.
And we also never use our privileged white voice to speak for those in oppressed classes. We speak next to them. We speak because of them.
Oh, and to all the people saying that this is so “not us” and really “Un-American” please read a history book. America was founded on the principles that fostered an atmosphere of hatred, bigotry, and violence toward anyone who didn’t have white skin. This is very American. Instead of claiming that the identity of the country you live in is being attacked, why don’t you stop defending a history that created these problems, and start being a part of a future that will end them?
Speak up, Silent Whiteman. It’s time.
