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So we talked to some racists and you’ll never guess what 
Turns out racist people think racism is common sense, and just might vote for a president that says racist shit.
I'm sorry, progressives, you insisted on addressing the blatant white supremacy coming from the President of the United States, so from now on you'll have to fight racism without previous staunch ally Dennis Kovach.
Oh no come back Eric Hayden, come back.
you guys
bad news
you guys we lost Eric from Facebook.
you guys
bad news
you guys we lost Eric from Facebook.
Get out of here. You mean a racist message *didn't* turn off white conservative voters?
When they "had to choose" racism or not-racism, they chose ... racism?
how could this be
how
they told us about their bones
they don't have any racist bones
When they "had to choose" racism or not-racism, they chose ... racism?
how could this be
how
they told us about their bones
they don't have any racist bones
Racists think racism is something you get to decide about your own beliefs.
The New York Times thinks it's responsible to validate that worldview.
Guess what you guys Port Huron MI racists still like the racist guy, and they don't think that makes them racists.
The New York Times thinks it's responsible to validate that worldview.
Guess what you guys Port Huron MI racists still like the racist guy, and they don't think that makes them racists.
It has a very clear meaning.
When somebody says to me that the word “racist” no longer has any meaning, that means they now understand that the meaning applies to themselves and they refuse to investigate the implications.
When somebody says to me that the word “racist” no longer has any meaning, that means they now understand that the meaning applies to themselves and they refuse to investigate the implications.
Racism is structural injustice, which creates a notion of race, then uses it to identify and harm marginalized people to the advantage of empowered people—systemically and automatically.
In a racist society, it’s everywhere. It’s not something you get to opt yourself out of.
In a racist society, it’s everywhere. It’s not something you get to opt yourself out of.
People systemically structurally and automatically disadvantaged by racism don’t get to opt out of racism; institutional power won’t let them.
But one advantage racism gives to those it unjustly advantages is the option to not see racism.
Which is what the NYT is trying to do.
But one advantage racism gives to those it unjustly advantages is the option to not see racism.
Which is what the NYT is trying to do.
A black person doesn’t get to decide to “I don’t believe in racism, so I’m not going to get pulled over 14 times this year.”
but a white person does get to decide “I’m not racist for voting against police reform, because I didn’t think the words ‘I will do a racism’ as I voted.”
but a white person does get to decide “I’m not racist for voting against police reform, because I didn’t think the words ‘I will do a racism’ as I voted.”
But that doesn’t mean that the white person who thinks that has opted out of racism. It just means they’ve decided to align themselves with it, either actively or through indifference.
That alignment is racism. The reasons for the alignment are utterly immaterial to that fact.
That alignment is racism. The reasons for the alignment are utterly immaterial to that fact.
Asking trump voters if they think they’re racist, as if it were some sort of unknowable subjective thought exercise, actively supports racism.
Just as well to go to the local swimming pool and ask people in the water if they think they’re wet.
Just as well to go to the local swimming pool and ask people in the water if they think they’re wet.
Yes! I am a racist!
I derive unjust advantage because of arbitrary phenotypes my society has identified as “white”
This advantage comes to me automatically in ways that I find I cannot opt out of.
All I can do is confess it and refuse to align with it.
I derive unjust advantage because of arbitrary phenotypes my society has identified as “white”
This advantage comes to me automatically in ways that I find I cannot opt out of.
All I can do is confess it and refuse to align with it.
Racist people, aligned with racism and therefore unbothered by it, believe that “racist” is an insult, a deliberate conscious choice to be evil, and it is thus meaningless— because they need to believe that it is meaningless.
Racism requires a very specific meaninglessness.
Racism requires a very specific meaninglessness.
For those aligned with racism, the term needs to mean “something hateful an individual deliberately thinks.”
All that remains is to self-exonerate your own individual thoughts.
Assisting racists in this exercise has been the NYT project with these heartland Trump voter pieces.
All that remains is to self-exonerate your own individual thoughts.
Assisting racists in this exercise has been the NYT project with these heartland Trump voter pieces.
I’ve actually come to the conclusion that it’s counterproductive to try to find such a distinction for myself.
I think the impulse to make the first priority self exoneration and separation from the crime of it is just another part of it.
I think the impulse to make the first priority self exoneration and separation from the crime of it is just another part of it.
I think that if I choose to align myself against racism, the difference will be obvious anyway. And if it isn’t, what makes me think I shouldn’t have to pay some price for racism that unjustly advantages me? I didn’t agree to the heist, but I still have some of the loot.
I’m less interested in distinguishing myself from active racists to establish my own individual goodness. I’d rather lean into a deliberate lack of distinction to fully confess racism from within it.
Let’s see those assholes try to dodge the implications of THAT.
Let’s see those assholes try to dodge the implications of THAT.
It’s not hate, of course—it’s freedom. The freedom to tell the truth rather than hide in fear of it. The freedom to admit my own imperfections, rather than constantly having to first establish my perfect innocence.
And, therefore, the freedom to improve.
And, therefore, the freedom to improve.
For someone to refuse to admit their own complicity is to constantly need to defend an unearned reputation.
This is why those aligned with racism hate being called racist so much more than those aligned against it.
It scares them to self-confront. They must deny.
As we see.
This is why those aligned with racism hate being called racist so much more than those aligned against it.
It scares them to self-confront. They must deny.
As we see.
To be aligned with injustice is to constantly have to manage a self-image you don’t deserve, to constantly try to escape a self-loathing you can’t even acknowledge.
These are false and miserable people.
If you watch, you can see they know it.
These are false and miserable people.
If you watch, you can see they know it.
People really don’t understand what racism is.
Understanding it would require finally seeing it.
Which is why the simple observation of it is so often received as if it were an accusation.
Understanding it would require finally seeing it.
Which is why the simple observation of it is so often received as if it were an accusation.
