originally posted on medium.com
The reaction to a compilation of opinions that led voters to Trump published in the Washington Post (which I found via Post writer Karen Attiah) was pretty much what I expected. You’re welcome to have a look what people said, but it generally wasn’t “because I’m a huge bigot.” Simply saying you aren’t a huge bigot doesn’t mean you aren’t, but it’s still interesting insight.
That’s not the read it got. The reaction I saw on Twitter was seething rage, mostly from white liberals, at how they could possibly have left the bigotry out!?Now, I have no argument against the idea that bigotry was a big factor in his election — I’ve been one of the people screaming about it since no one wanted to take Trump seriously after his announcement speech . To support Trump’s candidacy, one had to choose to at least passively accept the bigotry aspect.
It’s important to remember that bigotry wasn’t a deal breaker to his voters.Please also keep this in mind, though: what would they have done if there was a non-bigoted alternative saying the things they were saying in that Washington Post collection?
I’m guessing at least a few would have gone with that, and every vote counted. But we didn’t get that opportunity this time. So what do we do?
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Something I’ve been concerned about a lot of my life is what to do about bigotry — it’s what led me on the political path I’ve been on my entire life. I was born in rural Michigan, lived there most of my life, lived in Salt Lake City for a few years for a job, then moved back. What I have observed in my lifetime has pushed me further and further left with every passing year. 2016 is the year I realized we really played ourselves.
I don’t mean “colorblindness,” though that is a very interesting case study in how to play ourselves. I mean our casual hatred, condescension and total disregard of people who are racist. We thought that just ignoring racism was a good way to stop it, then we thought screaming obscenities at racism was a good way to stop it, and then for a while we went back and forth between the two, having no idea that these things were both allowing racism to fester and grow… until Twitter came along.
Then it was just the screaming.
When I wrote my essay on my thesis that directly calling Trump’s support “deplorables” would lionize them and ensure his supporter-to-voter ratio would be better for him than it would have otherwise, I wasn’t playing around — and it did. That’s exactly what it did. I have talked campaign and political strategy more than anything else since Trump announced and have consistently seen things work out in a manner that lines up with that thesis. You try to harm them, they get angrier; if you cut off one head, two appear in its place.
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What if — and here’s a shocking idea — opponents of bigotry didn’t try to decimate with insults, but rather tried to educate and convert? Now, it wouldn’t work with all of them, and it shouldn’t be certain people’s responsibility to do so. But what if, this thanksgiving, you sit at the table with your racist family members and just engage?
What if you don’t turn to condescension and insults? What if you don’t point fingers and accuse?
Let me be clear, here: I’m not talking about POC or other marginalized folks. I’m talking about white people who avoid these conversations like the plague. I’m talking about safe people. We are the diplomats. It’s not marginalized folks’ responsibility to educate anyone that could harm them. “Hey black woman, talk to this really racist white man and tell him why you’re a person, okay?” No. We should not be asking people who are actively oppressed to be empathetic of their oppressors and the enablers.
White people, at our upcoming stupid white colonial holiday that turned into a turkey celebration (wtf) — it’s our responsibility to begin the long, uncomfortable process of undoing this.
You might get angry, but if you present an angry case that insults and condescends — marginalized people lose. It’s crystal clear that condescension and anger didn’t work. Our next President is actively working to undermine and corrupt our government and got there despite being very loudly bigoted.
I’m not asking everyone to “have more #empathy, guys” or to become racists’ biggest fan. I’m asking straight, white, cis people to understand that they are not people of color, trans, gay, or any other marginalization vector. We are not in the same position as marginalized people are. You are privileged. I am privileged. That means we can do a lot things others can’t without worrying about extreme consequences.
If we use that privilege to live in a bubble, avoiding confronting any of this stuff, we are enabling it. This is on us. Our whiteness, our cisness. Donald Trump is our fault. We are the ones who have given way to this. I would suggest that a lot of the need to separate out a group of “deplorables” is to have a group to blame — to have a justification to say #NotAllWhites.
Our blame for Trump is the same though. White people did this, have been doing this, and have always done this.
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To reiterate, I am advocating that white people start engaging with other white people they might have previously laughed off as “deplorables” — and in good faith. That’s extremely uncomfortable and I will likely rile some people up by saying so. I’ve come to understand it really doesn’t matter.
I’m white.
That means talking to racist people (whether explicitly racist or simply ignorant) in a manner you would be crucified for on Twitter: taking them seriously and addressing their concerns. In all seriousness, we can not simply insult racism away. White people’s comfort in not engaging racists seriously, as people, comes at the cost of the marginalized. You may be hated for engaging racists in good faith. Again, it’s fine.
You’re white.
You’re not being asked to change your ideals — you’re being asked to remember you can’t just make the racists disappear. They’re also people, and a large enough amount of them feel betrayed for some reason. It may not be a good reason.
You don’t do everything for a good reason, either.
People in the position to be diplomats need to be, whether we like it or not. We have the privilege not to be, to retreat from the awkwardness. But that makes us, white people, the enablers. We have proof that insults don’t work. Are you now going to go shoot all of them? No. You’re not; you wouldn’t whip out a gun and shoot a family member, even if they were racist.
And just for the more edgy among us: don’t pretend you would when you’ve avoided talking about it this long because it’s uncomfortable.
Whether you like it or not — it’s time. White nonracists: you have to treat the racists like people and you have to talk to them. That’s beyond uncomfortable even to say here. I know certain people will say to me “NO FUCK YOU ENABLER.”
But this rhetoric is what gave Trump the white house. That’s how we got here. It’s the rhetoric of the white liberals from your neighbor with the sign to Hillary Clinton herself — and it yielded us President Trump.
Buck your straight, white, cis privilege. It’s uncomfortable, but you’re the one who can reach your family.
- Watch Peter Coffin in his latest: “Very Important Documentaries: Facebook MLM Pyramid Schemes”