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Bask in the Crazy: Accepting Responsibility For Our Whiteness
Though I firmly believe that the bulk of a conservative’s time engaging liberal arguments should be spent debating their most pointed, nuanced positions, we should occasionally indulge ourselves by reveling in their worst arguments and fringe elements. Fringe elements like Ali Michael, who took to the pages of the Huffington Post this week to help us all cope with the, and I quote, “overwhelming oppressiveness of our whiteness”.
To call the piece’s logic tortured is to downplay its severity. The article is a war crime committed against rational thinking. At its core is the assumption that sin is transmitted from the actual perpetrators to their progeny. Whites are not merely beneficiaries of a form of privilege, but literally share partial blame for acts of injustice committed long before their birth. Social Justice is a jealous god, who visits the inequities of the (white) father onto, at minimum, the third and fourth generations.
Rachel Dolezal is a fascinating case study in White racial identity development.* She is stuck in the immersion/emersion stage, in which White people, having learned extensively about the realities of racism, and the ugly history of White supremacy in the U.S., “immerse” themselves in trying to figure out how to be White in our society, and “emerge” with a new relationship to Whiteness.
How is your relationship with your whiteness? Contentious? You are not alone.
I definitely experienced this. There was a time in my 20s when everything I learned about the history of racism made me hate myself, my Whiteness, my ancestors… and my descendants.
Mankind is magnificently diverse, and has written near endless volumes on just about any topic you can imagine. Despite this, I strongly suspect that no author in history has ever opined on their hatred for their non-existent descendants. Hatred which, we should note, is based on the assumed color of their skin. Irony, thou art a harsh mistress.
I disliked my Whiteness, but I disliked the Whiteness of other White people more. I felt like the way to really end racism was to feel guilty for it, and to make other White people feel guilty for it too.
Guilty for what precisely? A history of slavery? That is indeed a great mark of shame on the white man…and just about every culture that has ever walked the Earth. Africans, Arabs, and Asians of every variety engaged in the horror of slavery alongside, and prior to, European cultures. Even a cursory glance at the history of Africans enslaving other Africans reveals this entire narrative of the uniquely evil white man to be a fraud.
In Senegambia, between 1300 and 1900, close to one-third of the population was enslaved. In early Islamic states of the western Sudan, including Ghana(750–1076), Mali (1235–1645), Segou (1712–1861), and Songhai (1275–1591), about a third of the population were slaves. In Sierra Leone in the 19th century about half of the population consisted of slaves. In the 19th century at least half the population was enslaved among the Duala of the Cameroon, the Igbo and other peoples of the lower Niger, the Kongo, and the Kasanje kingdom and Chokwe of Angola. Among the Ashanti and Yoruba a third of the population consisted of slaves. The population of the Kanem was about a third slave. It was perhaps 40% in Bornu (1396–1893). Between 1750 and 1900 from one- to two-thirds of the entire population of the Fulani jihad states consisted of slaves. The population of the Sokoto caliphate formed by Hausas in northern Nigeria and Cameroon was half-slave in the 19th century. It is estimated that up to 90% of the population of Arab–Swahili Zanzibar was enslaved. Roughly half the population of Madagascar was enslaved.
That white people engaged in slavery alongside all of the world’s other people only seems remarkable when we consider that whites were the first to end the practice.
Let’s not be sidetracked by historical context though. It is an irrefutable fact that the sins of our white ancestors are both worse than those of other races that committed the same crimes, and that these crimes have stained our souls. What can we do about it?
Daniel Tatum said we need to change this. We need to give White people new ways to identify as White. Because at the end of the day, we need White people to see that we are White. When we recognize and own our Whiteness, we can account for our own portion, our one 1/billionth of responsibility for what White people have done throughout history.
It is good to know that my inherited culpability for the horrors of slavery is diminishing as time goes on. Being only half-white, I bear ½ of a billionth of the responsibility for what white people have done throughout history. Presumably my unborn (and only mildly scorned) children will share ¼ of a billionth of the responsibility.
I’m not sure what happened with Rachel Dolezal. Maybe it was mental illness. Maybe it was a desire to connect to her adopted brothers. Maybe she felt safer and more loved in Black communities. Maybe it felt good to distance herself from the overwhelming oppressiveness of Whiteness — her own and that of her country and of her ancestors.
That Dolezal is a moral agent acting with free will, and has never committed any crimes against blacks, would seem a sufficient distancing from the overwhelming oppressiveness of the whiteness of her ancestors. Unless you believe that skin color transmits moral responsibility. In that case, sure, I can see why you might want to take things step farther. Also, you’re drooling on your shoes.
Rachel Dolezal’s actions are a potential pitfall for any White people on the journey towards recognizing the truth of what it means to be White and accepting responsibility for it. But we cannot not be White. And we cannot undo what Whiteness has done.
We cannot not be white. But we can cannot not judge ourselves and others by the acts of people long dead, who we were not alive to oppose and had neither our consent nor approval when they committed crimes against humanity.
Published in General
Nobody thinks that Ali Michael truly believes these things. She is displaying and signaling to other members of her tribe.
She has written volumes on the topic. She is a true believer.
“Though I firmly belief…?”
C’mon. It’s your opening sentence.
Sounds more like a prolific ‘ego tripper.’
My humble apologies for this mistake. I’m sure you were grievously injured by it.
Status signalers gonna status signal.
Forgive me if I’m missing something, but isn’t that idea an integral part of Christianity? I’m not arguing with you or even suggesting that you do or don’t say certain things, I’m just warning you that lambasting one of the core beliefs of a religion subscribed to by a large percentage of Ricochetti isn’t exactly going to contribute to your popularity around here.
Depends on your specific denomination. No matter which one you belong to however, I assure you, it’s position is more nuanced than this.
Ok, thanks for the clarification. I learn something new every day.
Apparently, a large minority of my DNA hails from the Caucasus. We don’t know how this happened, since none of us remember an ancestor from there. But would a DNA test lie?
The problem, though, is that the people of the Caucasus, though responsible for the name “Caucasian” are also noticeably browner than other white people. Thus it’s possible to be more Caucasian while also being less white. Does the dusky tint that I inherited from my Caucasian ancestors increase or decrease my share of genetic sin?
White people need a secular equivalent of baptism to expiate our original sin. I had hoped that voting for Obama would work, but I guess not.
Original sin. There is no such thing as the secular left. They have a new pagan religion that worships darker skin tones.
Frank,
Isn’t it interesting that no actual genetics peddling racist could be as absolutely totalitarian in their racism as this creature is. Race explains all things and you can not not be your race.
Ayn Rand had it best. She said fascism was just the crudest form of collectivism. At its root collectivism seeks to avoid all personal responsibility thereby avoiding morality itself. Ali Michael is about one notch up from a fascist. Her collectivist lunacy would justify virtually anything. Those who are on the wrong side of history can be liquidated and they were.
BTW Frank, this isn’t so fringe. The Huffington Post is rather widely read, however nauseating a thought that might be. This fringe is being given plenty of exposure.
Regards,
Jim
Considering that ‘whites’ make up only 16% of the worlds races its amazing that they carry the complete burden of responsibility for the worlds wrongs especially slavery, though its been going on for thousands of years.
To further the narrative of ‘oppression’ you must have an oppressor, “Hey whitey, yeah , I’m ONLY talking to you! Repeat after me- Bad white person!”
The Democratic Party is the party that lives on race. It’s difficult to overstate how much they benefit from making race the focus of discussion. People being racist, and people thinking other people are racist, helps them and grows their power. Racism provides them with cover. People with lazy, casually racist minds can look at, for example, Detroit and say, “Well, it’s a wreck, and it’s full of black people, so the black people wrecked it.” Of course, it’s not the black people that are the problem. It’s the Democrats and their policies that are the problem.
*
Um, you VOTED for Obama?
And why would I need to expiate sin that is not mine? What obligations do I have to pay for someone else’s sin?
1. My family wasn’t in the country when the ‘sin’ was committed.
2. All the perpetrators of US slavery are dead.
3. The victims of US slavery are dead too.
Dig ’em up and re-kill ’em if that makes you feel better. I feel no guilt because I bear no guilt.
Originally, the term “White People” was a Roman term for the people of Britain. It referred to the white cliffs of Dover, not the colour of their skin.
The term “Caucasian Race” didn’t exist until it was coined in 1785 by German “racial theorist” Christoph Meiners.
For some reason, Meiners really had a thing for people from Georgia, hence he equated his “beautiful white race” with the Caucasus. Even so, he believed the absolute best race was the Celts.
As such, the Boston Celtics should be forced to choose a new name, as they are irredeemably tainted with the stain of 18th century German racism.
;-)
Inherent in this ‘white sin’ argument is the idea that the white culture is uniquely guilty or sinful. This is just not true. Humans are sinful – they do bad things sometimes – Every culture, every country, every ethnicity has its ‘sins’ to bear. No one has ‘earned’ the right to judge others.
Admitting you are culpable is a good first step. Congratulations.
…or the idea that “white culture” is even a thing in the first place.
The left likes to keep us believing we’re terrible people because the “salvation” they offer is their goal: collectivist government to confiscate our hard earned money to use as an offering to expunge our guilt. Total surrender to their goal is our penance.
Twice! And I’m also ready for Hillary. The only thing worse than White guilt is male guilt.
I understand having a thing for people from Georgia. So many of them are hott. One of the most flattering compliments I ever received was from a handsome Georgian who told me I looked like one of his countrywomen. Plausibility increases flattery, I find.
Apparently, there is…
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/oregon-white-privilege-100K
I don’t know – I read that list of “values”, and it makes me feel proud.
Good information. I’ll keep that in mind
I usually try not to delve into religious topics on Ricochet, but the crux (no pun intended) of the writer’s argument is reminiscent of an argument given by some on the pro-slavery side of the slavery “debate” in the Antebellum Period. If I remember correctly, there’s a Midrash that says something along the lines of black skin being part of the curse G-d put on Ham’s descendants for what he did to his father Noah.
Anyways, proponents of slavery in the Antebellum South said that somehow this Midrash means it’s ok for us to take black people as slaves because of what their ancestor did thousands of years ago, even though that isn’t what the Midrash says at all.
The central argument of the girl who wrote that article is just as strong and just as weak as the argument proponents of slavery in the Antebellum South gave over a century and a half ago. Her tacit endorsement of their argument, as well as HuffPo’s decision to publish it, is incredible to me. I thought that chapter of our nation’s history was behind us, but it appears Ali Michael wouldn’t mind revisiting it. Shameful.
So, wait. If these are the hallmarks of vice, does that not mean they’re promoting slavery as a virtue now?
So the sacrifices of my ancestors, who fought for the Union, were for nought? I’m condemned either way? Boy howdy but the backlash against this is gonna be ugly.