I’m not talking about all white people. But if I don’t say it, they’ll whine that I’m lumping all white people together. I’m the real racist, and America would be a better place if things could just go back like it was, when white people were free to express themselves and other people were literally “other persons” as described in the Constitution.
Listening to some, it would appear that white people are being made to suffer more than any other group in America. When America was founded, there wasn’t even a thing called white people. There were definitely poor people that encompassed those of every race. It was when white indentured servants joined with Black indentured servants and Black enslaved people as part of Bacon’s Rebellion in 1676 that something had to be done. Indentured servitude came to end, leaving enslavement as the model for cheap labor. The former white indentured servants were promoted to a higher social and legal status. The poorest white person was made to feel superior to any Black one, a concept many white people can’t let go of.
I could spend time on the history of white control of every main institution in America. There’s a class element that shouldn’t be left out but the rich were almost exclusively white. When their interests diverged, the rich part won out but they were still able to convince poor white people that it was in their interests to support them. The same is true today.
So in this time where white people are more and more feeling oppressed, suppressed, and depressed. What things do they still control despite their grievances?
The Justice System
I considered whether to start from the bottom up, the police forces that evolved from slave patrols, or the top down, the Supreme Court which initially was formed from a group of six white men, the majority of whom enslaved people. With the recent appointment of Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the Supreme Court for the first time ever will not be controlled by a majority of white men. White people needn’t fear because the vetting process ensures a commitment to “originalism” and “stare decisis” (except when enough white people desire a change) so that little will change. I’ll start with the police because they deserve special attention.
In most cities, white people control the police forces. Even when there are Black Mayors or Police Chiefs, their control doesn’t extend to making policy which often has to be negotiated with police unions where whiteness reigns supreme. Black police officers have sometimes formed their own police unions but they lack the national strength, have little or no negotiating power, and are typically informal groups. The Police unions with power, the International Union of Police Associations, the Fraternal Order of Police, the National Association of Police Organizations, and Police Benevolent Associations across the country set the agenda and ensure the status quo, protection of whiteness never changes.
Police forces keep getting more funding, are becoming more militarized with tanks, armored vehicles, and weapons of mass destruction that have never been used against white people but stay ready to suppress people of color. When people of all colors protested after the brutal murder of George Floyd; police forces stayed quiet for a moment while citizens demanded we “defund the police.” That typically meant reapplying some resources to fund mental health initiatives and not making armed officers the first call to deal with minor issues. The police regrouped and used their money and power to make “defund the police” a dirty word and made it impossible for Presidents and dog-catchers alike to get elected without voicing support for the men in blue.
Communities of color are over-policed, sentenced disproportionately, and handled more violently than white ones. This is the status quo white people want to be protected, and use every method in their power to ensure it is.
The Judicial system is whiter than the police. While true that Mitch McConnell and the Republicans have used the last several years to pack the Federal Courts and Supreme Court with white judges. That’s little different than what Democrats have done when they had control. When President Joe Biden lived up to his promise to nominate a Black woman to fill the first opening that came up on the Supreme Court. Many white people gave up any pretense of wanting equality. The final straw was a slew of white Republican Senators walking out during the final vote when Judge Ketanji Jackson won formal approval from the Senate. Go to Internet chat boards and blogs to know what white people really thought. They revealed their thoughts that America shouldn’t have a Black woman, none were qualified, and the only reason Black judges exist is because of affirmative action.
I can’t leave out the Justice Department. They have spied on and infiltrated every major Black organization ever, looking to criminalize attempts to seek equality. I’m not talking only about the J. Edgar Hoover days when he infiltrated the NAACP, SCLC, Black churches, and civil rights leaders. When the COINTELPRO program ended in 1971, the names were changed to protect the guilty, and illegal surveillance of Black groups continued. From 2017 to 2019 the targets were called Black Identity Extremists, otherwise known as people that really enjoyed being Black. When that effort was exposed, the names changed again but the rules didn’t. Black leaders and organizations are now defined as, “domestic terrorism threats.”
The Schools
There is a not-so-new concept that nothing can be taught in school that makes white people feel bad. Long before people used the fiction that Critical Race Theory (CRT) is being fed to grade school students and there’s no such thing as systemic racism. School books were being altered to make enslavement look like a job opportunity, and students weren’t told that the people that uttered, “Give me liberty or give me death,” and “All men were created equal,” were themselves slave owners and only meant those slogans for white people. (Patrick Henry and Thomas Jefferson if you wondered).
America initially mostly refused to educate Black people (there were exceptions). Every time there was a slave revolt anywhere in the world they banned teaching Black people to read and write lest they learn about the Haitian Revolution and follow suit. America evolved to separate but unequal. It then found segregated schools unconstitutional but gave the violating schools unlimited time to make amends, (“With all deliberate speed”). America flirted with the idea of making public schools as good as private schools but the current trend is to take money from public schools and give them to charter schools.
Hard to believe but we still have segregated school systems ranging from New York to Mississippi. White schools still have better materials, resources, and teachers. White people whine about affirmative action which was never more than a cap on minorities in the first place. All of a sudden they’re worried about the Asian students being left out at the expense of other people of color without once volunteering to get rid of the legacy system that almost exclusively benefits white people.
Efforts (many of them successful) are being made to ban books and authors in schools and public libraries. Most of them are by Black and LGBTQ authors. The common theme is that white children might feel bad or have to learn things about sexuality or gender that parents might have to explain. I’m not talking about fringe authors but people like Toni Morrison. There is no justifiable reason except for white people whining.
Everything Else
I could go on and break down every aspect of power in America and how it is controlled by white people. Whiteness has become more inclusive over time as a whole lot of people that weren’t considered white are now as the nation steadily becomes browner. Among the people not originally considered white in America included; Germans, Greeks, white Hispanics, Spaniards, Jews, Slavs, Italians, Afghans, Iranians, and Irish. As we get closer to 2045 when white people are projected to be a minority in America, look for whiteness to add some others not currently on the list to maintain that majority. Expect that trend to continue until the only non-white [people left are dark-skinned Black people. Let’s check back in 2045 and see if my prediction has come true.
Now about that complaining mentioned in the title. Look in the comments section where people (many of them anonymous) feel free to say what’s really on their minds. You’d think white people were the most persecuted people on the planet when the opposite is true. People from white countries all over the world are rushing to save Ukrainians from the Russian onslaught. In and of itself that’s quite noble, concern for the attacks on civilians and the millions of refugees created by the war. What grates are the millions of Black and brown refugees that white countries mostly ignore while simultaneously depleting the affected nations of natural resources or ignoring atrocities committed by America’s trading partners and friends? We care about some people and not all people with the common denominator being color. I’m not mad that Ukraine is getting help, I’m upset that Black nations generally are not.
My go-to website for identifying the views of white people is Constitutional lawyer Jonathan Turley’s blog. The people that comment there are generally well-educated, many are attorneys or have graduate degrees, with few exceptions are white with many feeling that white people are disadvantaged against minorities though for all practical purposes they have all the power. I give you some recent comments”
“My child…white….perfect SAT…astounding accomplishments and grades….was rejected from a number of Ivies…where children who had the RIGHT color with many less accomplishments were accepted! But “She” was lucky…because a white or asian boy has to be THAT much better than her….in the sciences…to be accepted!”
“Things were better when white males had all of the political power. Wars were won decisively. Not anymore. Political correctness has ruined America.”
“What is the purpose of achieving “diversity” at the expense of quality? To just satisfy the loud yammering fanatics at the far left of the spectrum was a journey into destruction of reputation AND the false hope of many who were given access to schools far beyond their abilities thus causing further damage to their sense of self, (plus we ended up subsidizing many a troublesome cadre of minority students with an alternative agenda of using these resources as a cudgel against the main culture that, ironically, provided them the means with which to attempt their destruction of same.”
“. . . unless [the UC system] develops its own test.”
Step One: Are you an aggrieved minority?
Step Two: Can you fog a mirror?
If yes to One and Two, you’re in.
If yes just to One, you’re on conditional admit.”
“I think what you might mean is that black students have notoriously lower test scores, higher dropout rate, higher truancy, and other academic indicators.”
“The 800 pound gorilla in the room:
After 30 trillion in entitlements given primarily to blacks since LBJs Great Society (cluster Eff) they still can’t compete in the sciences. Sorry but the inconvenient truth is blacks as a whole have the lowest IQs on the planet!
The Leftist Commies only embrace ‘science’ when it supports their narrative.”
“Blacks can’t compete in the sciences.
LBJs Great Society Catastrophe has pumped more than $28 trillion in entitlements into this Black hole no pun intended.
The lowest eye ques on earth come from sub-Saharan Africa; sorry but it’s an inconvenient truth!”
All these comments were taken from a story last week about standardized testing. You should have seen what they had to say about the selection of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson? This is but a small subset of the whining from those who should know better. What’s astonishing is that their safe space is in a blog devoted to legal issues, though Turley does all he can to deny the existence of racism.
I live in Trump country. I work in a majority white environment and am surrounded by white people when shopping, dining out and walking the dog. Cars are adorned with Trump stickers and, “Let’s Go, Brandon,” stickers. If you’re wondering if I equate Trump supporters with racists? Yeah, I kinda do. At the very best they ignore racist policies because of other views they have in common. It would be one thing if white people just complained and let it go once it was out of their system. They are forcing principals and school board members to resign, filling those slots with their own. They are suppressing votes to maintain political power by a wide margin. They are ensuring a lack of police accountability while continuing the over-policing of minority communities. That’s why white people whining is so irritating, because it correlates with white people taking steps to expand their privilege. America is heading in the wrong direction, with whiny white people leading the way.
Note: The First Whining Response And My Reply
“This article is very deeply flawed. I could name several examples of how, but particularly there’s the widespread false idea that there’s a special status that white people in general want protected for themselves. Anyone who knows white Americans in general knows that this is, by far, not the case.
Perhaps the reason that white Americans are feeling more oppressed is because of not only the widespread ill sentiment against them as a group, but also because of increasing race-based practices against them in them in the name of equity which, yes, includes affirmative action. Affirmative action, by the way, is harmful towards non-whites as well. It’s a form of soft racism against them. It is that type of systemic racism which is endemic in this country, not the hard type that so-called anti-racists speak of. Disparities in hiring and criminal sentencing are a matter of interpersonal, not systemic, racism.
I will unapologetically object to any unjust treatment against me on account of my race, as I would for any non-white person. Labeling it complaining, whining, white tears or white fragility will not cause me to let my guard down.”
“Thank you, Kevin, for providing exactly the kind of response that proves my point. You start out denying the existence of any kind of special white status, then go on to describe how you’re being discriminated against, all the while as a group holding all the power.
My article is flawed only because of all I left out. I could have written a whole book on homeownership alone. (Maybe I will). The entire middle-class was created by establishing Veterans Loans and FHA Housing which were offered almost exclusively to white people. Redlining and steering forced the few that could get loans to live in less-valued neighborhoods. Today, and I mean 2022, a Black-owned home in any neighborhood will appraise for less if any sign exists that a Black family lives there.
You, Kevin, are exactly the kind of white person whining I was describing. I am including your quote to others in the story so you don’t feel left out. Whine on!” — William Spivey
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This post was previously published on MEDIUM.COM and is republished with permission.
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You may also like these posts on The Good Men Project:
Escape the Act Like a Man Box | What We Talk About When We Talk About Men | Why I Don’t Want to Talk About Race | The First Myth of the Patriarchy: The Acorn on the Pillow |
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