White victimology, white privilege and the Covington Catholic rules of race
In America’s racial drama, only white people are allowed to be “innocent.” The Covington boys are a classic case
by Chauncey Devega at Salon:
These rules include the following.The mere accusation of racism against a white person is worse than the impact of racism on the safety, security, lives and literal existence of nonwhites.
White people are the “real” “victims” of “racism” in America. Donald Trump, with the help of Vladimir Putin and Russia, rode this lie to the White House.
White people are somehow “oppressed” by nonwhites, “political correctness”, and “civil rights.”
Whiteness is benign. White people, regardless of the evidence of their bad behavior or ill intent, are always entitled to the benefit of the doubt.
When white people are accused of racist behavior, they are allowed to decide what evidence is acceptable, credible and true.
Intentions, feelings, and the unanswerable question “What is in their heart?” trumps all empirical evidence and facts about the consequences of racist behavior and the context in which it occurred.
Stand your ground. In his interview with NBC’s “Today” on Tuesday, Nick Sandmann — the Covington teen seen face to face with Nathan Phillips in that widely-viewed video — used that language: “As far as standing there, I had every right to do so.” His words were in all likelihood very carefully chosen by the public relations firm hired by his parents — a PR firm with right-wing connections.
In America only white people are allowed to “stand their ground.” It is expected that nonwhites, especially black people, will always be deferential and submissive to white people. This is true of black people walking down the street and being stalked by white street vigilantes, black people living their daily lives and being harassed by white people who have decided that they get to police public spaces, and black people who are harassed and threatened by out of control law enforcement agents.
“Personal responsibility” does not apply to white conservatives. Contra Martin Luther King Jr., the long arc of history does not necessarily bend towards justice. In the age of Trump it is stuck on white victimology. For example: the white teen MAGA mob is somehow held to be not responsible for their foul behavior toward Native American elder Nathan Phillips because a small group of “Black Israelites” (essentially racial chauvinist black Power Ranger cosplay clowns) said mean things to them.
This is the very definition of racism and white supremacy: the white teenage mob decided that black and Native American people are somehow interchangeable; anger at the Black Israelites can then be reasonably transferred to Nathan Phillips; racist taunts and harassment against Nathan Phillips are therefore justified.
In an essay published Tuesday in the National Review, David French signals to another very old and important rule of race that still operates in today’s America: Empathy and sympathy are demarcated by White America (especially white conservatives) along and against the color line:
In the [Brett] Kavanaugh case, conservative men and women looked at decades-old, uncorroborated allegations, the unquestioning acceptance of those claims, and the furious effort to destroy a man’s reputation and career – even by passing along the wildest and most implausible claims – and thought, “That could be me’ or ‘that could be my husband.’
Now, these same people look at the reaction to the Covington Catholic kids and think, “That could be my son.”
You can hold that fear in your heart without excusing or condoning sexual assault in any way. You can hold that fear in your heart without excusing or condoning racism or even thoughtless taunts. Because you’ll know that for all too many people, the truth doesn’t really matter. You’re a symbol, not a person. When angry people cook that social-justice omelet, they break eggs not with regret but with angry glee. …
That’s the message that sent a shudder up the spine of husbands and wives during the Kavanaugh hearings. That’s the message that sends a shudder up the spine of moms and dads as we watch men and women try to ruin the Covington Catholic kids. This isn’t just a media scandal. When we see the hate, some of us see our sons, and we know that in America today, their futures, their reputations, and – given the prevalence of death threats – perhaps even their very lives are in the hands of an angry mob.
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