Thread by @scalzi

1. Yes, but also, here's a thing: I am not ignorant, nor am I uneducated, nor am I malign on these issues, AND STILL I got waaaay too far along in my adult life thinking systematic racism wasn't still as active, and endemic and as pervasive as it actually is...

https://twitter.com/johnwhinzeii72/status/1311733061260894209

2. ... and at this point, as much as I am aware of it especially thanks to the last four years, what I'm even more aware of is that I am still largely insulated from its realities and in most ways will not ever experience its depths. And ALL of that is for the same reason...

3. ...which is that a salient feature of systematic racism is its ability to mask from its beneficiaries (including mostly liberal, mostly educated, mostly not ignorant white people, like me) how bad and pervasive it STILL is at every level.

4. Systematic racism defends itself by magnifying small gains, minimizing all the places where it still runs rampant, and by telling its beneficiaries that enough progress has been made today, go ahead and feel proud of yourself, and, jeez, why are those other folks still irate?

5. Indeed, I'm ashamed to say one of the reasons I *am* as aware how prevalent systematic racism still is today is because Trump et al are just simply SO BAD at their racist villainy that the usual level of systematic obfuscation is off the table.

6. So, yes, lots of people choose not to see the systematic racism, and that's bad. Let's also acknowledge that systematic racism isn't always at full volume; there are all sorts of ways it works, to convince even it beneficiaries who know it's bad that it's not all THAT bad...

7. ...even as those who suffer the full brunt of it are telling them how bad it is, and still is, and will continue to be without massive and systematic change. I see this better now, which is good. I know I still don't see it all. That's on me to work on.

/end

PS: let's finish on a cat pic, as is customary for longer threads.