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Originally Posted by ThurgreedMarshall

Yeah. Of course it didn't. Color me shocked.

Look, it is almost impossible to talk to white people about racism. I sit on 3 different diversity organizations. Every single time white people are in the room, a conversation about racism, the effects of racism, steps to fix it, devolves into a conversation about white people's good intentions, feelings about being in the vicinity of racism, their meager upbringing, whatever. It makes it completely impossible to discuss the actual effects of their racism. People who are trying to address racism spend most of their time helping white people with their feelings and ensuring them that they aren't bad people. White people (on the whole) cannot have a conversation about racism.

Like I said, I have been struggling with this phenomenon for quite some time, as have many (actual) prominent people in the diversity field. Focusing on unconscious bias, confirmation bias, etc. is strategic because the message is, "Hey, shhhhh, it's not really your fault. But let's see how we can get past this." And it's because when you say to a white person, "Black people at this firm aren't being given the same opportunities. We need to do this that and the other." All they hear is "You're a racist," and that's that. Conversation effectively over.

And liberals and progressives benefit from racism and actively fight changing societal dynamics that grant them those benefits. As long as they can tell themselves that they aren't part of the problem or would never use a racial slur, they let themselves off the hook. Once again, when they are faced with how they benefit, they completely disconnect from the conversation. I've gone into the examples a million times on this board.

But enough of this. Your post is annoying in that you point out a bunch of stuff you disagree with but never actually say anything. So, if you want to have a conversation, I suggest you do more than sit there and shit on the article without offering even a little bit of insight into why what you are quoting is incorrect or what you think is or isn't "helpful."

TM

I have a hard time not getting angry when someone (inevitably) says, "I'm against police violence but I can't support BLM if they're going to block freeways" or "inconveniencing people isn't going to get them to support you" or "acting all flamboyant at Pride isn't going to convince anyone that gay people are normal." All things members of my family have said in these conversation all from people who are generally fairly open minded but who are nonetheless reacting exactly as you and the article describe.

I mean, hey, maybe the people doing the work might know more about it than you but even if they don't, they're doing it and you're deflecting.