“me and white supremacy”

  I thought I was ready to read, “me and white supremacy: Combat Racism, Change the World, and Become a Good Ancestor,” by Layla F. Saad.

  Layla Saad describes herself as an “East African and Middle Eastern Black woman.  I am a Muslim woman.  I am a British citizen.  I live in Qatar.”  Her book is intended as a twenty-eight-day journey of reading and journaling with prompts at the end of each chapter to induce reflection about white supremacy toward Blacks, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC).  She warns that this is not an easy book because it challenges assumptions by readers that they are free of racism. 

  It turns out that I am her target audience, a middle-class, self-described white liberal. 

  The author makes many basic points about white privilege and fragility in a forceful and straight forward style.  Her basic assertion is that ALL white folks, including many light-skinned Blacks, are replete with conscious and unconscious racial biases picked up from society and internalized.  The original sin of Black enslavement and its bastard offspring of Jim Crow inculcated beliefs about white privilege and Black inferiority.  As a result, all white people and light-skinned Blacks are responsible for recognizing racism and developing anti-racist attitudes and practices. 

  I have no argument with this approach to educating and sensitizing us about racial reality, including practical steps to overcome bigotry.  What I find troubling is that Layla Saad accuses readers of refusing to acknowledge their racism if they disagree with anything she posits. 

  For example, she attacks an attitude that favors color blindness.   

  “Race-based color blindness is the idea that you do not “see” color.  That you do not notice differences in race. Or if you do, that you do not treat people differently or oppress people based on those differences.

  “The promise of the Church of Color Blindness is that if we stop seeing race, then racism goes away.

  “If white people do not see color, why do BIPOC continue to experience oppression? 

  “To deny someone’s inherent identity is to perpetuate racism and blame Blacks for not acting white.

  “When it comes to racial color blindness, what begins as a seemingly noble purpose (eradicating racism by going beyond the idea of race) quickly reveals itself as a magic trick designed to absolve people with white privilege from having to own their complicity in upholding white supremacy.  Today, notice how color blindness shifts the burden of addressing the consequences of racism onto BIPOC by asking them to stop talking about racism and just work harder and be more like white people.”

  To treat someone as a Black, Asian, Hispanic, Middle Eastern, Jewish, Muslim, Christian, heterosexual, homosexual, or bisexual seems wrong.  I think treating someone differently based on their racial, religious, or ethnic attributes is far different from acknowledging their individual identity.  Yet, if I resist her argument then I am exercising white supremacy and white fragility.    

  Another example of where I disagree involves Layla Saad’s definitions of prejudice and racism.  She advises that prejudice applies to a person who prejudges someone based on race.  Racism means prejudice combined with power.  Because BIPOC persons have no institutional power they might be prejudiced against white people, but they cannot be racists.

  Huh!

  I don’t accept her definitions.  Prejudice is a broader term than racism because it encompasses biases that might be based on race, religion, ethnicity, disability, age, gender, or other attributes.  Racism applies solely to bias based on race.  Therefore, a Black person might be racist toward Asians, Whites, American Indian or Alaska Native, Hispanics, Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islanders, or Blacks.  

  I recall in reading biographies of Langston Huges that his Black father moved to Mexico because he hated people of his own race.  

  Finally, I don’t know why this weak argument denying Black racism toward white people (think Nation of Islam) was necessary since Layla Saad made her point that anti-Black racism is a scourge that needs identification, correction, and constant vigilance irrespective of whether some Black folks harbor racist attitudes. 

  I was particularly taken with the author’s discussion about negative racial stereotypes toward Black men, Black women, and Black children, including the resultant harm from such typecasts.  For example, she explain that Black men are frequently viewed as dangerous and less intelligent resulting in severe police treatment and fewer prospects; Black women are too often portrayed as inferior, angry, and aggressive thereby limiting their opportunities for mentorship and promotions; and Black children are considered less innocent and more grown up so that they encounter less nurturing and harsher treatment.

  Ouch!

  I recall when working at Wegman’s (an upscale supermarket in Northern Virginia) pizza counter, I had the night shift one Saturday.  Several large, Black guys headed my way.  They were dressed in dark workout pants and black hoodies.  My initial reaction was to be concerned about troublemakers.  However, being an older guy, I decided to greet them pleasantly.

  “Hey, guys.  How are you doing?  What can I get you?”

  Turned out they were members of George Mason University’s basketball team who had been studying late.  When they realized they wanted to take a break by driving over for some late-night pizza snacking, they drove over wearing their casual athletic clothes.  We joked around about the team and its prospects.  After they got their pies, they departed with a friendly “See ‘ya around, man!” 

  All in all, I’m glad to be reading and undertaking the exercises.  It’s important to be accountable.  So, this book is more a plus for me and for those with whom I associate despite my criticisms.  After all, it was a only short while ago that a white woman sicced the cops on a guy in Central Park because he was birding while Black.