One of the things I've been hearing about the need to discuss racism is that people on both sides need to possess empathy. in a strictly mechanical sense that may be true, but for the people who have the history of oppression predicated on...
...abuse, violence, obedience, subjugation, deprivation, and compliance what is the real purpose an benefit of empathy for the individuals who have never experienced those thins and many other horrors as a function of what they were born?
The history of black people in the nation has generally been one of needing to understand and empathize with others who perceived themselves as superior simply as a survival mechanism.
The simplest and clearest example of that is the expectation of how black people are suppose to comply with police and not question their authority, whether or not they've committed an offense.
Black people are assumed to understand in those circumstances their rights are subject to the judgment of those around them.
Whereas, Those interactions and expectations are never handled or treated the same way by police or white people. It is assumed that they have rights.
Whereas, Those interactions and expectations are never handled or treated the same way by police or white people. It is assumed that they have rights.
And if authority or circumstances are question, it is assumed that the white individual has the right and imperative to do so. Black children must understand these dynamics from the earliest ages, or risk injury or death. Their age and understanding is of no value.
So if empathy is of such value and importance, and empathy requires the ability to see one's self in the story or experiences of others, isn't it true then that by positing that teaching white children about history, slavery and race it makes them feel guilty or badly,...
...that teaches those children there's no need for or value in empathy when it comes to others? Doesn't that teach them that empathy is a one-way street in their direction?
Doesn't that reinforce the very white supremacy and white privilege that the adults claim doesn't exist and they don't possess? That means that the whites who claim that position as a defense and repudiation of racism and white supremacy are shameless trying to have it both ways.
That directly and completely undermines any attempt to have serious discussions or race, further insulates the folks who really need to listen, and positions them as victims when they have never been victimized.
Just a thought.
Just a thought.
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