You always hear the word of “if I can do it, why can’t you?” When this comes from a white person, most don’t understand the reality we are living in. You can try to explain but many do not want or can’t see how black people have been economically oppressed. It’s an insult when someone says this to a minority. The picture below illustrates and example of this.
What’s your thoughts?
Tragic, but powerful. As a white male, I cringe a bit at the cartoon, but I also realize and affirm that it depicts a sincere reality. It’s important that we – especially white people – leverage our platform to understand how our past has given us advantages, draw awareness to those inequities and their effects, and use our voices for justice. We need to realize that we didn’t get here ourselves, and that we have a responsibility to uplift others.
Thanks for sharing!
Raz
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Thank you for commenting and sharing your thoughts as well. Can I ask a honest question? Why is it so hard for white people to change?
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I think a majority of change push-back stems from ignorance and fear. Ignorance is abundant, even after decades of Civil Rights advocacy and access to literature on the sins of our nation’s past. There are people who would look at your cartoon and say, “No way. That’s not how it happened. That all changed after [abolition of slavery/The Civil Rights Act/Affirmative Action/etc.].” Ignorance leads many of us white people into a false sense of equality. That ignorance contributes directly to fear, in my opinion. I was speaking to one of my white friends the other day, who truly believes the Black Lives Matter movement is about Black superiority and is about taking absolute power. It’s easy for white people to ignore the structures in place that are rooted in white supremacy. Our commander-in-chief, a majority of Senate and House members, plurality of educators, faces on TV, actors, CEOs are white men. Some people fear that any paradigm shift will relinquish power for that majority, whether they admit that or not, and I think that scares a lot of people. I’ll leave it with this quote I recently found, because I think it sums up the power imbalance and inequality so well when it comes to the intersection of white privilege, fear and ignorance: “When you’re accustomed to privilege, equality feels like oppression.”
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Wow thank you!! Well said and I appreciate your real ness on this topic. I pray and wish there are more people like yourself who are open to learn and speak equality and understand why so many minorities are dealing with systematic racism. Well said!
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And I thank you! Believe me, I am still learning on these tough topics but I hope to always drive the conversation forward. Love your blog!!
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How can anyone possible believe there’s remotely equality when the average black person makes $10.00 to a white person’s $100.00 but yet is expected to accomplish the same task as someone making $90.00 more. That’s complete asinine thinking and anyone who think that way knows better. No one is that dense. People aren’t stupid. They pretend to be when they do not wish to face what they truly are.
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Agreed; I think that’s why I used the term ‘ignorant.’ Perhaps ‘evasive’ would be another good word, in the sense that many folks avoid the stinging truths that reveal the severe inequality that exists. One could avoid any literature that explains the realities of inequality, and selectively ingest information from media outlets like Fox News or closed-minded Facebook friends, which can distort the realities you mention. The challenge in my eyes is, first, how do we educate everyone on these realities and, second, how do we get everyone to affirm their truth and their effects? That’s how I think we build the foundation for change.
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Evasive is too kind of a word. Those who practice inequality are blatantly saying others do not matter. I don’t blame the media because people have a mind to reason with. Reasoning is a free choice. There is no need to educate people on inequality. They already know it’s wrong. The Abolitionists, The Civil War, The Emancipation, The Fourteenth Amendment, The Civil Right Act of 1876, The Civil Right Act of 1964, The Civil Right Movements and now a second Civil Rights Movements all and is telling people inequality was and is still wrong. So what more education they need? One would think the raw brutality of the Civil War would have been enough to convince people we do not need that to happen again but apparently all those savage battles and deaths meant noodle to those who see inequality as a normal way of life.
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Very true. Inequality at its finest. Sad state we live.
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Yes, it’s very sad.
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A few weeks ago I tried to bring up racism in a northern state up to a friend on FB and her mom came on and shut me down . She was basically denying there were racists in her state . Its pretty annoying tbh. I think a lot of people have to be honest with themselves and their surroundings for anything to really change.
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Exactly! Well put, a lot of people are in denial and the problem starts there 😫
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