When society is divided by race instead of class, the elite can exert social control and retain their wealth. Consider that after Emancipation, a white, wealthy landowner could no longer own human beings for free labor. To protect the wealth of the privileged class and prevent a class revolt, they employed poor whites to police poor Blacks. Otherwise, poor folks, regardless of skin color, would organize and overthrow them.
This social contract undergirds the systems of racial injustice and injustice within the law enforcement system in the U.S., seen prominently in the rise of police brutality toward African Americans, such as with the murder of George Floyd.
At this political moment, who cannot see that Trump has a vested economic interest in splitting Americans by race? Who cannot see that whiteness in this country has become a code for goodness?
Trump is starting up his campaign rallies in Tulsa Oklahoma, the site of the Tulsa Massacre that pillaged Black Wall St. and killed more than 300 citizens—left them in the streets—only 99 years ago. It was the worst massacre against African Americans in our country’s history and is unfortunately erased from many textbooks. The date Trump chose to launch his campaign? Juneteenth, the anniversary of Emanciaption.
This is an obvious dog whistle. Juneteenth is a sacred celebration in Black communities to commemorate liberation from slavery. Meanwhile, Trump’s white supremacist speechwriter, Stephen Miller, is rumored to be working on a speech to address race.
For white people, allyship is not a box to check off to then go back to being at peace with the world. I don’t know what solidarity will be for you, but here’s what I do know: solidarity involves taking risks.
The book White Like Me: Reflections on Race from a Privileged Son by professor, activist, and writer Tim Wise, is an example of a text by a white author that offers an honest reflection on how to reckon with one’s own privilege in the world.
“The irony of American history is the tendency of good white Americans to presume racial innocence. Ignorance of how we are shaped racially is the first sign of privilege. In other words. It is a privilege to ignore the consequences of race in America.”
Tim Wise
Élan Young 