Welcome to 2021, Or: When Privilege is Handed to you on a Silver Platter, And No, We're Not Better Than This
I am not a political pundit, and am not going to analyze the week's event that we all witnessed with our own unbelievin', yet believin' eyes. There have been enough news shows and articles for that.
I will be another person, though, to call attention to the great disparities in how Black people, and their multi-racial, multi-ethnic supporters, were treated this summer during protests calling for racial justice, equality, and the very basic human request to not be shot and killed--mostly by police officers, and sometimes by white vigilantes, simply because of their skin tone. I'm quite certain, too, that many men and women who fancy themselves vigilantes like the white father and son duo who killed Ahmaud Arbery, were in the crowd that showed up at the capitol this week to "take their country back."
We saw it with our own eyes on video, and on the news, and yet, Roots drummer, dj, author, food and culture enthusiast, Questlove, in an Instagram post, had something to say about the statement that so many in our country would rather believe in, namely: "this is not who we are."
Questlove says, "It's no coincidence the unpacking of our lives is going down this way (this instance, the events in dc, the pandemic, BLM, MeToo--everything that has risen to the surface in the past 5 years--I know a lot of people wanna hang on to the common thread of "this isn't who we are" or "we are better than this" "A lot of you have to ponder & rephrase it now.. "This is who we've been?"..."Can you imagine what went unchecked without the cell phone camera? This didn't just start now...or 2011...or back in 91 w Rodney King.....this has BEEN going on & no one believed it."
Questlove's Instagram post was actually in response to the viral video of Miya Ponsetto, the white woman who physically attacked jazz musician, Keyon Harrold's, 14 year-old son, accusing him as the person who stole her cell phone. Ponsetto singled out Mr. Harrold and his son, who are Black, as they simply walked through the lobby of their Soho hotel to go have brunch. The phone, turns out, was actually left in an Uber.
But, as Questlove shares, this same belief he sees so many falsely holding, was shared by countless people posting all over social media that "this is not who we are" after watching the January 6th domestic terrorist attack on the capitol. We can apply the "this is not our country," to this most recent 'Karen' moment, or to the storming of our nation's capitol, and we certainly have been applying it for years, decades, centuries, haven't we? Those of us with white skin privilege who believed the myth we were taught of how our great country was founded, of how our democracy was for all of us. We want to believe we are better than what keeps playing on the screens in front of our own eyes. But if that were the case, wouldn't we be behaving like we are better than this? Wouldn't we have made things equal, equitable and safe for every one through the ages?
Wouldn't we be doing something to change things since the notion "that all men are created equal" was never carried out in law or deed? We witnessed how giving up power and privilege is so damn frightening for the white warrior face-painted, Davey Crockett meets neo-Viking, fur hat wearing, confederate flag waving, heavily-armed men, and women, who stormed the capitol. We witnessed hundreds of these white folks descend upon the capitol building, break in through a window, be let in by politicians, take selfies with capitol police, without the presence of the National Guard or police in riot gear. Friend, Gloria Johnson, a risk analyst, and strong advocate for her community who sits on several non-profit boards, said, on social media, contrasting January 6th's insurgence with the uprising for racial justice after George Floyd's murder, "protestors this past summer were beaten, gassed and hit with rubber bullets for protesting and yet these mofos were allowed to get into the SENATE CHAMBERS...without being beaten, gassed or shot! Nothing...Clearly restraint can be used by law enforcement"...She added, "...white supremacy is a hell of a drug.." after witnessing the insurgents "just chillin in the senate chambers..."
That about says it all. We don't need pundits to tell us what we saw. If we, in the words of James Baldwin, which always come to me the strongest in these moments, look in the mirror, we will see that it is us, white people, who are the violent ones, the oppressors, who founded this country on white supremacist notions, laws, and policies, overt and covert, for over 400 years. We saw that when Black people asked this summer to be treated like human beings and their right to live and thrive like everyone else in this country, instead of as a monolithic, faceless group to be feared and harmed, they are met with violence. We saw when white people, armed with guns and zip ties, force themselves into the nation's capitol building in an attempt to overthrow democracy, that they are given carte blanche to roam the halls, make violent threats, and desecrate property, all aided and abetted by the President and some of the capitol police officers there--never mind the fact that there were a number of police officers, former military, and government officials who were part of the insurgent mob themselves.
We witnessed the fear of all of these white men and women losing the grip on what they believe their white country does for them. They fear being in the minority by number, and by privileges, real and perceived, they have always benefitted from, either without caring what happened to Black or brown people in this country, or with the will to do great harm to them.
I plead for all of us white people to see that this is who we are, and to every day do something about it. We can no longer believe we are better than this. We have to do the work to make where we are in each one of our very own communities a safe, just, equitable and free place for Black people. This is our call. A new President will not fix this. It is on us. If you don't know where to begin, as I've said before, look around in your workplace, your neighborhood, your schools, your non-profit organizations, at your elected officials. Are these places equitable and just and inclusive? Who is in charge? Who has the power to make decisions? Do your elected officials represent the needs of all people? Connect with and listen to the Black leaders in your community. Listen to Black women. Think of ways you can support them and their work, and ask them if your ideas to support are okay, are necessary, or are something that isn't needed, or off-base, or white savior patronizing. If you feel stuck, comment below, or message me. I am no expert. I am on this journey, just like you are, but if we keep saying we don't know what to do, then we are the biggest part of the problem.
It's 2021. Who is ready to change who we are?
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Illustration Credit: Jesse Duquette, IG: @the.daily.don Twitter: @JRDuquette
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Follow Questlove: IG: @Questlove @qls @questlovesfood