Can you guys please just once do one on how racists need to change?
I mean my God the extent to which everything apparently depends on the proper care and management of the easily-bruised feelings of racists.
Oh, really? Wow. 
Oh, really? Wow.
There are a dozen terrible assumptions packed into this one sentence, but I’d like to draw special attention to how it frames the problem of racism entirely along the lines of how white people treat other white people.
What if the way we foster a more equitable society is by focusing on listening to people who suffer from racism instead of listening to racists?
The idea that confronting racism is nothing more coherent than screaming “Racist!”
The idea that confronting racism means that you are entirely writing off the person.
This is the racist’s framing of the act of confronting racism.
The idea that confronting racism means that you are entirely writing off the person.
This is the racist’s framing of the act of confronting racism.
The most insidious racism that exists is the racism of white liberals who make the potentially hurt feelings of overt racists more important than the present suffering of racism’s targets.
Letter From a Birmingham Jail was written a long time ago now.
Letter From a Birmingham Jail was written a long time ago now.
Is it necessary to scream? Not always. To shun? Not necessarily. To listen? Sometimes. To discuss? Sometimes. To take a punch? I hope not, but maybe. To become uncomfortable? Probably.
To oppose? Always.
To oppose? Always.
The truth of the matter is, for white people like myself, the desire to frame opposition to bigotry as first and foremost being a civil discussion is not about making things comfortable for the bigot. It’s about making things comfortable for ourselves.
But at whose expense?
But at whose expense?
The best way to have what bigots would consider a constructive conversation about race is to first to be comfortable with hearing the bigot, being willing to agree to disagree, and then nothing, that’s what you need to do.
Things stay comfortable that way.
Comfort is the reward
Things stay comfortable that way.
Comfort is the reward
I’m tired. I don’t have a neat button to put on this.
Let’s try this: the person whose job it is to make a bigot lose their bigotry is the bigot themselves.
If you, like me, are a beneficiary of bigotry who is aware of it, your job is to push back against it with both hands.
Let’s try this: the person whose job it is to make a bigot lose their bigotry is the bigot themselves.
If you, like me, are a beneficiary of bigotry who is aware of it, your job is to push back against it with both hands.
Good night.
Nope. The author concedes very directly that the “difference of opinion” is racism. The headline’s phrasing is a weasely bad-faith framing to elicit exactly this response.
Somehow I get the idea that people who automatically frame criticism of racism as “autistic screeching” or “yelling” aren’t actually open to persuasion through reasonable discussion.
If you want to hear yelling and screeching, I commend you to a Trump rally.
If you want to hear yelling and screeching, I commend you to a Trump rally.
Or to frame things like enthusiasm for baby jails as “not seeing the world exactly the same as you do.”
it’s so telling that these points can’t be made without first ostentatiously moving the goalposts.
it’s so telling that these points can’t be made without first ostentatiously moving the goalposts.
