Have we done enough? Honestly, my answer would be an emphatic “NO”. Since the death of Georgy Floyd, the world has come alive with shouts for reform in local, state, and federal government, and while the moment is electrifying, there has been a swift and deliberate counter-movement, whose goals can be very simply surmised with the phrase “too far”. I was elated when, in her interview, Claudia Rankine mentions a separate interview in which the interviewer asked her “But aren’t there places where you go too far?” to which she responds “Well, how? Do you mean when somebody says something racist to me, for me to call it out is to go too far?” It’s that sense of the decorum around receiving racism which makes absolutely no sense” which is a very mild way of putting it. Although this is only one singular instance, it very clearly illustrates the reality in which we currently find ourselves.
In spite of a world that is quite literally falling apart, we are – as Thomas puts it – “living in an America where history dictates that, even in the most absurd times, hatred and bigotry continue to reign”. Thomas’ description of the exceptionally unique fear of being a black man in a time where the law requires us to cover our face in public. Now, I read Thomas’ article after Rankine’s, so I had this new definition of privilege in my head which made Thomas’ article more difficult to read. And, truth be told, there is a point where what I feel can only be speculation because the fact of the matter is I will most likely experience “the fear of being mistaken for an armed robber or assailant is greater than the fear of contracting COVID-19” as Thomas so aptly describes such a deeply rooted, generational fear. That is the privilege that Rankine was speaking to, an existence free of worry, and a sentiment that Thomas echoes when he clarifies his definition of privilege: “White people think when I say white privilege I mean economic privilege but I mean white living. The ability to stay alive”.
He pairs his experience with his observations on whiteness, especially as it has been viscerally exposed within the past months. But I think the most important part of this article is his view of whiteness, and its need to remain unnoticed, unchallenged: “There’s a deep psychological need for whiteness to go unexamined. White people have one understanding about what whiteness is and to trouble it is to trouble them. And they cannot hold it, they really cannot bear it, but it really doesn’t have anything to do with me”. This is becoming increasingly apparent with the increased attention turned towards politics. I saw this sentence come to life over the summer when I saw a clip of Nancy Pelosi, exasperated and frazzled, when a group of immigration activists disrupted a press conference on the pending DREAM Act. The look of shock on her face was surpassed only by her inability to comprehend why, in her mind, the people she was trying to help were actively interrupting her attempts. That was the instance I saw this quote come to life.
It’s clear that the personal has become political, and vice versa, and because of that the notion of white privilege has started to seep out into the open, into the personalities and the political (unquestionably so in this regard). And because of this, there has been a frantic scramble to bring people together in the face of COVID because privilege is being publicly tried, and the verdict isn’t looking so good. Benjamin acknowledges this as she writes “But as a soundbite, the idea that “viruses don’t discriminate” conceals the fact that the virus is not simply a biological entity, but a biopolitical reality which travels along well-worn patterns of inequity”. She brings up the idea of “well-worn patterns of inequity” which honestly makes me worry about anything that comes from this well-worn pattern is destined to replicate those inequities, regardless of intention. My concern is that something like Critical Race Theory is going to be limited in what it is allowed to accomplish because it came from something as raced as politics.
So, then, here are my questions for you all:
- What will CRT or Black Lives Matter or any other field of study or movement be able to effect systemic change before it gets silenced for ‘going too far’? Or does the very idea of systemic change threaten white privilege so much that even the idea of ‘change’ is going too far?
- What’s keeping white privilege alive?
