So yesterday I wrote a post in which I complained about being called a "liberal elite" because I live in a city. I made it seem that urban people are a lot better at not being racist than suburban/exurban/rural people. And while I do think that it's easier to quell white panic in the face of black or brown people when you live among them, still...
See, I live in Chicago, which is a city in which over 600 people have been murdered this year already, the vast majority of whom were black men and boys. Much of white Chicago has convinced itself that these deaths are just an unavoidable consequence of life in some parts of the city. But we all know the truth: if white men and boys were dying at rates like that, we'd give a shit. We'd demand that law enforcement and the political powers that be do something about it. We wouldn't just shrug our shoulders and sigh.
Donald Trump and his cartoon henchman, Rudy Giuliani, claim "they're killing each other" and that the only cure is to empower law enforcement to routinely harass black men and boys for crimes like walking down the street or having a public conversation. But imagine, my fellow white people, how we'd respond to that kind of humiliation. We get angry when the cashier at McDonald's is insufficiently pleased to wait on us.
I grossly underestimated white resentment and white panic in America. But I no longer will. This is what put Donald Trump in the White House. And while we white people bear the blame for this, it's black and brown people who'll shoulder the burden.
We have to be better. All of us white people need to be better.
