White liberal do-gooders like myself often fool ourselves about racism and how we perpetuate racism. We tend to focus the conversation about race on us and our work to counter it—and not on the people we’re supposedly supporting. Too often, we think we’ve singlehandedly eradicated the ugliness of racism because we have a black friend or voted for Obama.
White privilege is so ingrained that even with the election of an imbecile—a blabbering idiot who is turning back the hands of time—I feel that many liberal white people often make like Pollyannas and try to be civil. Nice white people don’t shake things up; they have the privilege of compromise.
I am a social worker. Two weeks ago, I was walking to an appointment with a client and a case manager when we encountered two angry white men outside St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in matching T-shirts, armed with megaphones and shouting for their listeners to “repent.” When the chants became louder, the police arrived. When the police asked one of the men to move on, I heard him direct a racial slur at one of the policemen, a black man. As my client passed, he said it again. We moved on to our next appointment.
This particular public display of hate feels like just a taste of things to come as we wait for the “Unite the White” rally on Aug. 12. Number 45 and his posse have emboldened every hater in the country, and the National Park Service has given these haters a permit to protest right here in D.C. A spokesperson for the National Park Service stated in an interview with NPR that the agency does not “consider the content of the message presented [when issuing permits].” I suspect the Park Service would feel differently about message content if 50 black people showed up with torches, spewing hate speech.
White privilege permits silence, and privilege permits “civility.” But in the face of such hate, we must reject this and be allies to those targeted by racist protesters.
The Root reported July 30 that Black Lives Matter’s D.C. chapter will meet the racists with a counterprotest at Lafayette Square Park. “Of course,” the article states, “given what happened last year [in Charlottesville], Black Lives Matter DC has expressed concern for the well-being of the counterprotesters and plan to have training classes available to attendees to address those concerns.”
The article goes on to quote Makia Green of Black Lives Matter DC. “We are stronger than they are, that they are resistant to change and to progress that Black Lives Matter has been doing over the last four years with black liberation and fighting racism and fascism,” she told Fox5DC. “So it’s important that we let D.C. and the rest of the world know that we are not going to stand for the hate.”
Be a decent ally. Get training and go to the counterprotest. For more information go to shutitdowndc.org.
Julie Turner has been a social worker assisting member of the homeless community in D.C. for 31 years. She is tasked part-time to Street Sense Media clients.
