Thread by @polotek

This is an important illustration of the journey for white people. It's easy to assume that code switching is about speaking "properly". It's harder to internalize that it's really about a forced deference to your Whiteness.

https://twitter.com/Chriswb71/status/1334202331831918593?s=20

Right. It hits different when you are the target. However that doesn't mean that you're being oppressed. It means you are being forced out of the limited view of reality that has been meticulously constructed for you.

https://twitter.com/MattWilcox/status/1334206851446140930?s=20

That's what I mean when I say you don't have the range. Until you get dragged out of that limited bubble, you can't see the multitudes around you. You can't start to build better judgment about what is real harm and what is not. You're still working with the kindergarten rulebook

What do I mean by multitudes? Here's just one example.

1) Race is an invented construct. True.
2) White people don't wanna be white. Cause it has... baggage. True.
3) Black wanna be Black. We love our Blackness. Also true.

All these things are true at the same time.

So when we talk about "race", it's not a singular thing. It's not a binary that has to apply to everyone at once or nobody. We have to exist in a messy world where we are working to dismantle racial oppression but also I still get to be Black as fuck.

https://twitter.com/polotek/status/1033028170235015168?s=20

Right. It's possible to use these personal experiences to expand our understanding.

Why do we do that for our boss's benefit? Because we know that if we don't, our boss could decide to do harm to our career.

Exactly. It's like that but *any white person*

https://twitter.com/r_merriam/status/1334223581144813572?s=20

I was talking to @operaqueenie last night and I was frustrated. I have this core conceit within me that says it's not that fucking for white people to connect these dots. It's because you don't want to. Because the place it inevitably leads is threatening to your sense of self.

"Not that fucking hard" 😬 #tweetingtoohard

Right. But I would go further. Many white people cannot see the *real and material harm* that happens to PoC when we don't conform. They don't understand the mechanisms that activate to reject and exclude us in their name. It's often invisible to them.

https://twitter.com/armahillo/status/1334225632864198661?s=20

What I mean is that it's not a direct cause and effect. You don't have to say "I don't want them working here because of the way they talk". All you have to do is say "I had a hard time understand them", and someone else will take care of it. The signals are covert and indirect.

There is a stage of this journey that often horrifies white people. When they learn what happens to us based on their "off-hand" comments. When they start to see the machine of oppression that activates regardless of their "good intentions".

Those who work in DEI have these singular experiences. Have you ever been at a place where they manage to hire 3 Black people on a row? Woo shit. All of a sudden it's "I'm worried we're going over board with diversity. Are we being unfair in the other direction?" Welp!

So you hire some more white people, which nobody seems to think is an issue. And then maybe you can have another Black person. You know, as a treat.

"They're not really a culture fit"

"I'm worried about their ability to talk to clients"

"They don't have the background we usually look for"

"I haven't heard of this school. Is it good?"

"They have a really loud laugh. That was off-putting" (No I'm not kidding, this happened)

This shit absolutely wrecks Black people's career prospects. And nobody had to say anything "racist". Nobody did anything "wrong". Nobody even had to explicitly say "no". Everybody's sense of self is intact. But there are no fucking Black people at your job. What a coincidence.