White People Get On My Damn Nerves

including my damn self.

I'm about to piss a whole slew of people off.

As usual, I'm okay with that.

I started this entry before the Pepsi fiasco happened. I started it again when Serena was attacked about her pregnancy (queen had a baby by a white boy.) And again, I started this post when Shea Moisture decided to sell-out their main source of business and again when Dove lost their damn minds and once more, when the Victoria Secret models were taped singing along with Cardi B., but not knowing better than saying the n-word. I started it again when I read news stories flare back up detailing the actions of teachers taking it upon themselves to cut the braids of a little girl's hair or to braid the afro of a child and again, when I heard that some students are being disciplined for wearing certain hairstyles. I'm not going to even mention the individual unnecessary deaths mixed between all this shit, but actually I am: Jordan Edwards, Sandra Bland, Terence Crutcher, Philando Castile, Samuel Dubose, Walter L. Scott, Freddie Gray, Akai Gurley, Alton B. Sterling, Tamir Rice, Michael Brown, Eric Garner, John Crawford III, Dontre Hamilton, Dante Parker, Tanisha Anderson, Rumain Brisbon, Jerame Reid, Tony Robinson, Phillip White, Eric Harris, Jordan Davis, Renisha McBride, LaQuan McDonald, Jamar Clark, Charles Kinsey, Dejuan Guillory. These are only the people I have knowledge of, spanning from the year 2012 to now. 

-insert major fucking side eye here-

This post is starting up again because this shit should've already been completed 10x over. Leave it up to a white woman to put POCs on the back-burner. I am a self-aware hypocrite and the point is that I'm continually calling myself out and adjusting. However, that still doesn't make me better. I don't win the award for being the most woke white woman on the planet. I'm still white and inherently prejudiced (I'll explain that later) and I don't get a medal for recognizing the faults in my behavior and correcting them, for treating other humans the way other humans should be treated. Ya'll shouldn't expect a pat on the back either.

I'm going to call your attention to a few habitual occurrences that should be common sense and somehow aren't. I hope they open your eyes. Feel free to add more in the comments so that we can all learn something here. (This post is only going to scratch the surface of the surface of issues. I hope to write more posts in the future that target specific issues or perhaps provide more clarity on BLM. In the meantime, educate yourselves.)

Check it...before you wreck it - 

• The n-word: If you are not black, this is not your word. You should never, under any circumstances, say it. I don't care if you're teaching, if you're singing, if you're pissed off, if you have a black best friend, a black boy/girlfriend, a black cousin. I don't care if you're quoting someone, if you're joking. I don't care if you're telling a story. I DON'T CARE what your sorry-ass excuse is. Get the shit out of your mouth. Skip the word in the song. Say "the n-word" when you need to tell a story or speak about it. Putting an "a" on the end of it doesn't make it more acceptable either and neither does this warped version where people switch the "g" with a "k." The fuck? We have not earned the right to utter this word off-the-cuff like it isn't directly tied to the deaths and opression of an entire race.
  
  You wanna know why black people get the "privilege" of saying it? It's been their word since the first day it came into existence. It was their word when it was regularly used and openly accepted as a (disgusting) slur, when it was okay to beat them for no other reason than being black, when they didn't have the right to vote, when they were raped, beaten, and sold by their masters, when they were revolutionizing the world with the Civil Rights Movement, and it's still their word today when the system continually fails them and murders them. It never should have been in a white person's mouth to begin with. We haven't magically won the right to say it now that people think black people are free.

• Boundaries: And ya'll - stop touching their motherfucking bodies. Their hair does not suddenly become yours to put your groping hands all over because it looks as intricate, precious, and foreign to you as something you'd see in an art gallery or museum (do they need to put up ropes and a "don't touch" sign or something?), just like your face doesn't suddenly become mine by me thinking it's the most beautiful space to punch after I see you do this shit. It's actually theirs to punch...and I hope they do at least use some very strong-worded language toward you. Sorry white people's hair is boring (and not as bouncy) in comparison, but keep your hands to yourself. We all learned this rule in kindergarten.
  Also, an afro or kinky hair is not "unkempt." It is a natural state of a human's hair. Straightening it and putting it in plaits does not make it more groomed or acceptable. Alter your perception.

• Language: Let's all recognize that I can say the word "homie" and not be called ghetto. I can listen to Tupac and NWA and Ludacris and Kevin Gates and Lil Kim and Missy Elliot and still be seen as innocent. BECAUSE I AM WHITE. Ya'll hear a black woman talk louder than a whisper and she's too ghetto. Ya'll hear a black man speak his language and he's a gangbanger. Ya'll see both of them bumping that bomb-as-fuck music and they're too "hood." They're just fucking people being people in their own culture, man. Lay off. You know what our sacred culture is? Shit beer. The American flag. Singing about trucks, and girls, and our dogs. Yeah, so much better. You're right.

• Appearance: Any other woman besides a black woman wears braids and she's innovative, she's coveted. Ya'll wear hoop earrings and grease your baby hairs like you're doing something new. You're picking off parts of a culture that is not yours and then calling that culture ghetto when they do it or demonizing and reprimanding the children that exhibit this culture in school. And if you aren't personally doing it, you're praising the women that do. *ahem - Kardashian trash - ahem* Get on somewhere with that bullshit. Pay homage to where it came from at least.
  
  Are you more scared of an unknown black man with saggy pants and a du rag than you are an unknown white man dressed like a frat boy or politician? WHY? Ya'll know white men are responsible for some of the most heinous attacks in history? Ya'll know preppy (okay, maybe they aren't all preppy), white boys are responsible for a ridiculous amount of rapes and assaults compared to the black man? Redirect your prejudice. Do you think a black man in a suit is a better person than a black man in baggy jeans and a tee? Why? Because one fits your ideal of what success is? Is a white boy with saggy pants and a tee or a hoodie more acceptable and less threatening? Again - WHY? Don't be afraid to question your  reflex perceptions of people and adjust them. 

• Inherent Prejudice: What I mean by this is - as a white woman raised in a white-centered system and white-powered world, I have prejudiced tendencies instilled in me that I have to constantly be aware of and constantly fight against. That black boy that speaks Ebonics so fluently it makes my head spin, could be the most brilliant man in the room. That black girl with strong opinions and the will to speak them loudly isn't just another dramatic black woman. It's not suspicious to see a black man get into a Mercedes. Every black woman with kids isn't on welfare and she very well may be married to her baby daddy. Even if all of these things aren't true, it's still okay. White is not the epitome of all someone should be. White is not a level other people should strive to reach. White does not mean we should be able to do things or act a certain way and then turn our noses up at another race that does them. And, white should not be a get out of jail free card, or rather, avoid jail card.

Closing Credits - 

Now, ya'll know I'm going to stay on this soapbox the rest of my damn life. The responsibilities of being a white woman in a white-favored world include calling out myself and others - actively calling out others. And if I'm slacking, call me the fuck out. I am not flawless. Likwise, I will be the white woman that is a thorn in your side, that reminds you of your privilege, privilege you did not earn. I will not be the quiet white person that turns a blind eye to the injustice because it makes my life more comfortable and easy. 

That's not to say I don't have a lot to learn. I still say things and think things that make me choke, stop dead in my tracks, and roll my eyes so hard I question if they'll come back down. I still get called out by other people and sometimes I want to reply "not me!", but I've got to come down off my white pedastal and become receptive to what I am being told. I've had to change my mindset.
Being called out is not an attack. It's a lesson. People are taking the time to educate us so that we can better learn to coexist. Why should we not be receptive to that? Maybe because we've gotten comfortable in our privilege and we wouldn't want to be treated differently. Unfortunately, this privilege never should have been there to begin with. We need to open our fists and let it go. Stop holding people down. Let others rise.
I haven't always been aware of the everyday racism against black people and how I play into it. It has taken time, willingness, an open mind, reflection, and understanding. It has taken time - when it shouldn't have - for me to recognize my own shortcomings and it has taken time - when it shouldn't have - for me to become active about those shortcomings.
I invite you to take your own time now and reflect on the actions that are immediate for you. Maybe you didn't realize that touching another person's hair was so unacceptable or wearing a certian hairstyle was insensitive. Now you do. Why is it that you didn't think twice before doing it? Just think about it.

The quietest bystanders are the most dangerous in the fight against racism. I'm inviting you to get off of the fence. Become an active ally. Let people know what they're saying and doing isn't okay and that you won't stand for it. Help when you see someone being mistreated.

David Dante Troutt said, "Tolerance used to mean inclusion, but now it means how much hatred we will accept as a means to an end." Let's set the definition straight.

amg

✊

P.S. I left the rough draft remains of my original post below for you to meander through (if your eyes haven't died of exhaustion already.) Enjoy.

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First, have ya'll seen this monstrosity of a commercial that Pepsi rolled out with white-revered Kendall Jenner?

No? You're already failing by being unaware. You're forgiven. I noticed it too late too. That's the tip of the luxury iceberg. Go ahead and check it out, because we need to have a little sit down.

Ooooookay. Did you see an issue? No? Just seems like a pro-everything video with a catchy tune, you say? You're wrong. So wrong. However, this is a welcoming space with plenty of patience for education. True to feminist form, I'll tell you why this commercial is disgusting.

1. I'm so over white people being depicted as the fucking savior. We are literally the reason for almost every cultural wipe-out.  We are not the good guy!
2. The fact that Pepsi would even listen to someone pitch this and agree that Pepsi could be the cure-all for a protest involving all -isms, is just lunacy.
3. This commercial makes a mockery of every person who has ever been affected in any way by police brutality throughout history. To name a few: Martin Luther King, Jr., John Lewis, Rosa Parks, The Freedom Riders, Sandra Bland, Michael Brown, Rodney King. The list is literally fucking endless, because it's still happening and shows zero sign of stopping.
4. This commercial shows the epitome of white feminism as Kendall pulls off her wig and literally shoves past a quizzical woman of color to save the fucking day for WOMEN OF COLOR...da fuq??!
5. 
   

(include discussion about people who are too "hypersensitive", but how the cycle has created them, include policy brutality statistics)

also, within one week of writing this, I have accumulated a zillion more reasons to be pissed off..
shea moisture
jordan edwards shooting
ahca reps
little girl's teacher cut/braided a little girl's afro

kendall jenner 10th year anniversary vogue india cover