There is a pernicious misunderstanding going around that I dont like white people. I really dont care what you think but I think it is interesting enough to tweet about so here goes.
Its not that I dont dislike white people. The truth is I really really like anti racist white people. The rest of yall are meh at best and at worst even unintentionally have been troublesome to my existence as a black person.
I work at a very very white place called a botanical garden. It was here that antiracist white people earned my respect. An example of that is found in the executive director of Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden; a man name Shane Tippett.
So as radical and black I am when i got the job I jokingly thought to myself, I hope these folks googled me because Im not dumbing nothing down. Before I could find the words to say that; Shane says to me that they wanted to learn from me.
The salary offer was also very affirming so there was that.
But several times; Shane has had to engage other white people about something I said because you know I am really honest and I am black and I am not scared of yall so calls have often been made about something i said
One time a philanthropy partner called my job to try to tone police me.
Another time a potential donor called to challenge my statements in the RTD newspaper
Well actually that happened a couple times. Probably more times than he has told me about.
What I love; is that each time it happened; Shane engaged the other party with a very simple but intellectually sophisticated question. He asked them if what I said wasnt true.
He didnt apologize for what I said. He didnt try to explain what I said. He simply asked was what I said either true or false. I would pay cash money to hear the responses. The one time I was present; i got to see just how sophisticated that question was.
We were at a coffee shop with the reps of a foundation that had a problem with a critique I made about philantrophy. They called me and were like they wanted to meet about it because even though it wasnt directed at them they felt I shouldnt have said what I said
At the same time, despite the statement having been made on my personal twitter, they wanted to meet with me and have my executive director present. I was like yo thats jive threatening and pseudo violent but ok
Shane and I sat while the rep talked about what I said and why he felt it wasnt cool. Shane listened and responded: "I am a white man from Montana, I would never tell Duron what he can and cannot say. The question i ask is if it is true or not."
The meeting meandered from there because what was realized around the table was the foundation wanted to havr this white man police my tone. It was brilliant and one of the moments where i really felt profound respect for the guy.
Anyway, I really like antiracist white people. Thats it. Those are the tweets.
