Good Intentions - Bad Advice

Robin DiAngelo (Daily Wire)

There are very few things I abhor more than racism. The fact that it exists at any level is extremely troubling to me. I cannot imagine what it means to be black in America these days. I think that has to be true of any white person. Unless you have been in someone else’s shoes you have no right to judge them. 

One of the more insidious forms of racism is what former President Bush (43) called soft bigotry. This is when black people are denied access to equality of opportunity in a variety of situations (e.g. schools, jobs, housing, loans, etc.) under the guise of some other explanation. As though it had nothing to do with their being black when in fact it had everything to do with that. It also accounts for the difference in the way law enforcement and the judiciary treats black people versus white people. 

Anyone that denies this is in denial of reality. They may not be racist. But they are insensitive to the realities so many black people face every single day of their lives. It is one of the more shameful aspects of American life. 

This is why there is currently a sort of national introspection about that kind of past insensitivity and what it is we can do about it – generated by the unjust killing of George Floyd, a black man in Minnesota by a municipal cop. 

I think it is legitimate to have this conversation. What is not legitimate is to be irrational about it to the point of feeling guilty about our skin color. There is no shame in being white. But if you listen to what ‘White Fragility’  Author Robin DiAngelo’s says about ‘Confronting Racism’, you would think that having a white skin is sinful even if one is not racist. 

Having a white skin is nothing to be ashamed of – or proud of. It is just skin. And it has nothing to do with one’s essence. Which should be mostly about character. 

There is inequality in America. The truth is that it has been changing for the better. That has been happening ever since segregation was made illegal in the early 60s. While it had slow difficult start - we have come a long way since Selma. There are successful black people in all areas of American life. In the arts, sciences, academia, the media, business, politics, and the professions. There are respected as equals no less than their white peers. 

Nonetheless inequality does still exist and needs to be dealt with. But we do not build black people by putting white people down. 

Ian Haworth notes that DiAngelo implies that this is exactly what we should do.  She says that we need to be ‘a little less white.’ How so? She lists a number of things we need to do, all of which implies the following about us: 

We are oppressive, arrogant, defensive, ignorant, apathetic, arrogant… and the most outrageous of all - we are somehow in solidarity with white people. Which almost makes it sound like we are more or less white supremacists deep down in our hearts. 

I’m sure that there are some people like this. But to imply that we are all this way as a nation is simply false. I am none of those things and I don’t know anyone that is. 

It isn’t as though we, the Jewish people, haven’t had their share of discrimination in our lives. We most certainly have. In spades. Culminating in the worst atrocity mankind has ever known. Furthermore, antisemitism still exists.  The Jewish people know what prejudice and bigotry is. Even though most of us are white. 

This doesn’t mean we can fully understand what it means to have black skin. But it certainly does not mean we are even remotely all - or any of the things she implies we are. 

How we level the playing field is a legitimate question, but in no way should we deny our basic humanity because of our white skin. That will not improve anyone’s life.