I am a POC, and I am honestly bewildered at the way white people are discussed on this blog. Perhaps it's true that they were born into privilege, but if there are white people who are genuinely fighting to remove systematic oppression, then why would it be productive to continually blame ALL of them for that very system? Is it really okay to address them as patronizingly as I've seen in some reblogs here? I'm not sure where this ask is going; this is more an expression of my confusion. Sorry.
Asked by
Anonymous
No need to apologize! It’s a good question.
I have trouble talking about this because I’m not sure that my voice is the important one in these discussions, but I don’t blame ALL white people. I blame whiteness as an institution. Individual actions of those fighting systematic oppression are amazing and should be lauded! And as I’ve said before, while I understand the reason behind blanket statements of hatred against a privileged group (“I hate white people” being one of them, but also “I hate straight people,” “I hate men,” etc) I don’t necessarily agree with them because individual people are not always the problem — but I am also a very privileged person, so whether or not I agree with them is kind of irrelevant. The institution that allows for a system of oppression to be in place is the problem, and unfortunately the majority of individuals don’t question it or even contribute to it, to damaging and often violent and tragic ends.
I mean, I’m white. If I’ve addressed others patronizingly, it certainly wasn’t intentional and I apologize for it. It can be difficult to patiently explain privilege theory to people without getting a little patronizing, and I’ll keep a better eye on that.
