Enough: the need for a new antiracism

Sonya Massey should still be alive. 

That is so painfully, embarrassingly, and revoltingly obvious that having to type it is pathetic. 

And yet here we are. Three summers removed from the summer of racial reckoning—and the shift in consciousness, so many hoped it was going to usher in— facing a stark and bleak reality: Our current antiracism has failed. 

And the murder of Sonya Massey is not the only evidence of this. 

Donald Trump’s spewing of absurd racist and bigoted talking points, dogwhistles, and stereotypes at the annual National Association of Black Journalists conference (and really everywhere he goes) further highlights the desperate need for a more effective antiracism. Not because of Trump’s racism; that was expected.

Trump wielded whiteness. Like Trump always does. We shouldn’t be surprised, and many weren’t. 

We can name the offenses: the initial disrespect of Rachel Scott, the venue, event, and organization—that’s par for the course. 

The centering of the fragile white male ego, of course. 

The saviorism, the paternalism, the lies, all to be expected.

And, thanks to the nomination of Kamala Harris as the Democratic candidate for president, we could even expect the racist and sexist attacks on her biracial and female identity, along with the ignorance that facilitates such attacks. So, it’s not surprising that Trump calls her a bitch when he thinks no one is watching, or that he purposefully mispronounces her name in public (we know it’s on purpose because he says it correctly on the leaked video of him insulting her). The racist and sexist attacks on Vice President Harris’ credentials and person are all to be expected from whiteness.

While these are some of the most recent and high-profile examples of racism, the conditions and worldview that makes them possible is replicated in every corner of the country. In big cities, small towns, and everywhere in between, whiteness dictates how we engage with each other.

But none of that demonstrates our need for a new antiracism.

The need for a new antiracism becomes evident when we consider how and why racism resonates with so many. 

Why are millions and millions of people drawn to Trump?

Why is it so easy for so many to blame Masey? Or Floyd? Or Brown? Or Taylor? Or Arbery? Or Martin? Or Bland?

Why do so many refuse to consider policies that explicitly address racial injustice?

The answer comes from examining our response to racism. This is where the need for a new antiracism becomes painfully evident.

It’s not that we, those white folks interested in antiracism, don’t respond. We respond. And we respond in the way our current antiracism teaches us to respond: shock, outrage, emotionally charged social media posts eviscerating all things conservative, calls to check our privilege, and, in far too many cases, a desperation to distinguish ourselves from “those” people. 

Of course, none of these responses does a thing to actually deal with the issue of racism. They make no real impact on the racial reality that shapes our society. It is time to ask the question: What needs to change?

The answer: white people need to heal.

Whiteness is a false and fraudulent identity. Its only purpose is to divide people who would otherwise find ways to build community together. Whiteness replaced that with building community around division and hate. Acceptance of whiteness came with a deep spiritual and emotional wound that must be healed. Sadly, because it offered access to mainstream American life, far too many ingested the poison of whiteness. But humans need community, and so white people found community within white supremacy. Healing this wound and offering white people the ability to find community outside of whiteness becomes paramount for racial justice.

Sadly, this goes against almost every tenet of our current antiracism—what I call privilege discourse.

Privilege discourse begins with the advantages white people experience within white supremacy, or, in other words, it begins with white privilege. Let me be clear: white people benefit from white supremacy. But that is not an effective place to enter antiracism, and it certainly is not the framework that leads to racial justice.

The main reason for this is that privilege discourse doesn’t allow the space for white people to address the wound of whiteness on ourselves, on white people. Therefore, we enter antiracism wounded and searching for our own healing. With this being the case, we consistently engage problematic, harmful, and too often violent manifestations of whiteness that privilege discourse is incapable of addressing. Manifestations such as white guilt, white saviorism, white solidarity, and white ignorance. Through privilege discourse, we are left looking for what we can do for other people rather than with them. Our relationships are marked by hesitancy, superficiality, and mistrust. This is the root of why our antiracism is failing. 

Relationships are the fuel of antiracism. Relationships are the vehicle that delivers accountability. Relationships lead to repair. And racial justice is fundamentally about repair. Without relationships, there is no hope for racial justice. Our antiracism must facilitate relationships; therefore, it must facilitate the healing of white people. Privilege discourse does not. 

It is time to transition away from privilege discourse and towards mutual-interest discourse. This is an antiracism that begins with the truth that the invention and acceptance of whiteness hurt white people. It then works to create the space for white folks to understand that wound and begin to heal from it. Let me say again, none of that equates to the denial of what we call white privilege; again, it is advantageous to be white within white supremacy. We need to transition to mutual-interest discourse because of what it offers that privilege discourse does not: space for white people to go farther than naming whiteness and white supremacy as toxic, unhealthy, and violent, but to also be active, full participants in co-creating a world free from white supremacy. 

With this framework in place, and the healing of white people taken seriously as a crucial element of antiracism, we will begin to see stronger, more healthy, more genuine relationships. This focus on relationships will lead to repair being taken seriously, accountability to take root, and the establishment of what will become whole and healthy communities. 

The reality is that this is the only path that leads us to racial justice. If we continue to utilize privilege discourse, we will continue to see the same patterns repeating themselves. We will continue to experience the exhausting back and forth of racial progress and white rage. We will continue to experience what Dr. Derek Bell called the permanence of racism.

Our hope lies where it always has: in our ability to connect with one another and heal together.