White People, Why Are So Many of You So Fucking Fragile?

White people, why are so many of you so fucking fragile?

I recently heard a term used to describe a behavior that at first perplexed me. I had to think about it for a second, and then it clicked home instantly.

The behavior I’m referring to is deep indignation at the accusations I recently leveled at my fellow white people. To sum up, I called most of white America in on the carpet, and blasted them with both barrels for the horrid way in which we white Americans have treated people of color. I repeatedly referred to white America as “we”, even going back to pre-Civil War slavery’s era.

But oh, wow…are there ever a lot of white people (almost all of them men, I’ll point out) who responded with practically a word-for-word response: “Ididn’t do any of those things. I’mnot a racist.”

The very idea that I would have the nerve to lump them in with blatant overt white supremacists was just way too much for them to handle. They felt I had no right to label all white people (meaning them) as racist, slave owners, white supremacists, or any other term that might cast an aspersion on their goodness and decency. After all, theynever owned slaves. They never lynched a black man.

So, as an olive branch to those of the Caucasian persuasion who took my rant personally, please accept this medal for good behavior. You may print it out and wear it around your necks as a symbol of your greatness, your excellence, your wonderful decency:

I hope that helps. After all, I cannot defeat racism alone. I’ll need the help of any award-winning whiteys out there who see themselves as good people.

For the rest of you, please allow me to introduce you to the subject of this piece. The name assigned to it by wiser, wittier persons than myself is White Fragility.

Just as ridiculous as it sounds, ‘white fragility’ is the apparent inability of many white folks in America to accept that they are complicit in one of the worst forms of degradation we can point to in recent history. That is, of course, the disgusting treatment of black America by white America.

“Now just hold on there one cotton-pickin’ minute,” some of you might be saying to yourselves right now. “I’m not a racist. I don’t go out picking on black people because of the color of their skin.”

Again, may I offer you a medal?

It’s good that you’re not openly, overtly abusive towards people of color. But is that all there is to racism? I’m afraid not. Racism extends far deeper into our society than just outwardly hostile attitudes. It’s far more sinister, far more seductive than that.

By its very definition, racism is utter foolishness: “The belief that all members of each race possess characteristics or abilities specific to that race, especially so as to distinguish it as inferior or superior to another race or races.” If, for example, dark-skinned people could fly, well, then there might be something to this whole racism thing. But they sadly cannot. Neither can we white people. In fact, if you made a very long list of all the traits you could attribute to people, I doubt you could actually find one that depended on skin color that really mattered very much at all.

The problem is that in America, we live in a very divided manner. Black Americans have been free to go where they want, live where they want, work where they want for fifty years, now. Of course, that’s only in a legal sense. Officially, the slaves became free men and women when Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. But up until the 1920’s, a black man going many places could quite literally result in him swinging from a tree. White schools, polling places, and a few other formerly lily-white institutions have seen American troops ordered by the President to use the threat of deadly force to allow black people admission over the enraged, bulging-eyed, throbbing-veined protests of white assholes — as recently as only fifty years ago.

This is not news to anyone who has a very basic knowledge of our nation’s history. But many white people seem to think that racism is a thing of the past, or at least in such decline that it hardly bears thinking about. Many white people have the notion that white and black Americans coexist in some kind of wonderful harmony, and only a few ungrateful black people exist who just won’t accept it. If you’re a black American reading this piece, please stop grinding your teeth. I believe I understand some of the reasons for your rage, and I hope to eventually make oblivious white people understand why you’re pissed off.

The problem here, my fellow whiteys, is that racism does still exist in America today. In fact, it’s alive and kicking, and shows itself readily to anyone what actually wishes to see it. If you’re black, I understand that it shows itself to you whether you wish to see it or not.

Racism in America today isn’t only the kind of mob-mentality violent racism that ended in so many lynchings a century ago. Sure, the Klan still exists. Yes, there are other white supremacist groups out there as well, and many of them would probably consider it a good Friday night’s entertainment if they could put a noose to work. But I’m not talking about these sick bastards when I’m discussing racism in America in 2015. Instead, today’s racism is much more subtle. It rears its ugly head in many places.

Ultimately, one of the best ways to help combat racism is to see for yourself that what you may have been told about black people is a load of horseshit. Many white people who live in rural or suburban areas will most likely never get to know any black people who could dispel some of the notions that are inherently racist and learned from an early age.

Obviously, some black families live in mostly-white communities. But even then, often these families are not really a part of the community they live in, to the extent that the whiter families are. We can look into the recent headlines for one example of this in McKinney, Texas, where black residents and their guests had the police called on them after some of the more prejudiced white community members decided these black teens didn’t belong in ‘their’ pool. The incident very nearly ended with a white police officer shooting a couple of black teens for protesting his unnecessarily rough handling of a fourteen-year-old black girl who was standing quietly and watching Officer Eric Casebolt run around yelling profanity at kids and somersaulting like a player in Call of Duty. Yes, this is one single incident, but it is one of thousands of similar incidents that people of color have come to know as commonplace. Most of white America had no idea that this type of behavior still existed until the proliferation of camera phones.

Even now, seeing isn’t always believing, though. Many incidents in which people of color have been abused by the police, sometimes even to the point of murder, have been glossed over by a multitude of white people who seem to invariably state that ‘they shouldn’t have resisted’ or some similar bullshit.

But sometimes even not resisting has ended up with people of color being shot. Sometimes, simply carrying a BB gun to the front of a Walmart to purchase it is enough to get a black man killed by police. It’s not enough to tell black people what not to do in an encounter with the police. We need to clearly tell America’s police what they are not to do. A large majority of officers are not even brought to trial when they kill a civilian. And many, many white people look for any reason whatsoever to exonerate the police and vilify black victims.

This is a tiny, infinitesimal view of the everyday reality many black Americans have to face. But even with all this readily available information, a staggering number of white Americans don’t see any problem. In fact, when confronted with facts about the different ways black and white Americans are treated, often white people try to find any possible way to brush it off as not a ‘real’ issue. This is white fragility in action. So many white people are willing to overlook practically any type of disgusting behavior in order to maintain the status quo. They simply refuse to believe that there is an easily observable double standard. Their concept of America is so delicate that they feel they must protect it at all costs.

And this, my fellow whiteys, is what we have to recognize. We have to admit that racism exists in order to combat it. We have to admit that racism still plagues our nation. We have to stop being offended by the notion that racism is our problem, too.

No, you have not owned slaves or lynched innocent black men and women. You don’t use the N-word when you refer to people of color. I understand this, and I’m glad. But is that the end of your responsibility, today? No…it’s not even much of a start, really.

Compare racism to child abuse. No, you’re not guilty of beating a little kid, by those same standards. But have you been in the presence of someone who is actively abusing a child and done nothing to stop it, or even to speak out against it? If you heard of someone else standing by mutely while a child was beaten, would you think they were gutless cowards, and nearly as guilty as the abuser themselves? I sure as hell would. Most people would, too.

So how is it any different when a racist person is actively committing an act of racism in your presence and you just ignore it? How does it make you less guilty? Will the person who is openly displaying racist behavior ever feel shamed into regretting their behavior if we all stay quiet about it? Hardly.

How are we combating racism by not joining in? Short answer: We’re not.

And that, my fellow whiteys, is the sin that many of us are guilty of: our complicit silence. It’s easier to ignore it and hope it will go away. It costs us less if we just pretend it’s not happening. It doesn’t ruffle the feathers of our friends, our coworkers, our families if we just do nothing. So many of us simply stand by passively while disgusting pricks further the atrocity that is our nation’s shame. This is what slavery has become, 150 years later: passive acceptance of the most egregious of discriminatory behavior.

That’s the version of America you’re aiding and abetting when you exhibit white fragility, and allow it to taint your actions. That divided America, the one in which white people have nearly all of the power, and take none of the responsibility. The divided America in which people of color have drastically less of a chance to flourish, and in which most of you stand by passively and pretend not to notice. This is the America you are struggling to preserve with your cowardice. This is the America you don’t want to lift a finger to help fix.

And you have the temerity, the outright and utter gall to be offended when I call you on it? How dare you? How fucking dare you?

Grow up, white people. Again, if you’re not guilty of the things I’ve mentioned, good. If you’re better than that, and you’re actively working to end racism in our nation, fantastic! If this doesn’t apply to you, then don’t be offended by my words. Obviously, racism offends you very deeply, as it should.

So ask yourself quickly: am I offended by what this man has to say about white America? If so, I might suggest that you do some soul-searching and see if you are guilty of white silence, of white complicity, of white fragility. If so, and this bothers you, then I thank you from the bottom of my heart for coming to this realization.

If so, and it bothers you, please…please help fight against racism in both big and little ways, right where you live, where you work, where you socialize. Let us stand together and listen to the voices of people of color who have been struggling to be heard for centuries. Add your voice to theirs.

In the end, racism is our problem to fix. Racism in America stems from the ridiculous idea of white supremacy, and no black person alive can stop us from accepting this vile filth. Only we can look into our own hearts, our own communities, and root out the cancer where it lives: in the hearts of fragile white people.

Danny LeDuc orThe Angriest Angel Freedom in America is not guaranteed. We are going to have to fight for it until all Americans know true freedom and equality. STAND UP. STAND UP NOW. FIGHT! | FollowThe Angriest Angel @french4jonwayne

This piece was reprinted by EmpathyEducates with permission or license. We thank the Author, Danny LeDuc for his kindness, passion, and for inviting us to see our history, past, present, and it could be, our future — We chose and will see.