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Pessimism is a Tool of White Oppression

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We are living in an unprecedented period in American history. While our nation earns the reputation of being the worst in the world at confronting the COVID-19 pandemic, Black Americans and their allies have taken to the streets to protest police violence and racism in the wake of George Floyd’s murder by Minneapolis police.

Indeed, there are many reasons to be pessimistic, including:

  • Thousands of innocent children separated from their parents and locked up in unsanitary American detention camps;
  • Environmental degradation and climate catastrophe exacerbated by the current occupant of the White House;
  • Abject failure of our federal government and most state governments to pass meaningful gun control legislation while innocent Americans continue to be slaughtered by weapons only designed for killing;
  • Millions of Americans who ignore the dangers of the pandemic and even poke fun of it by throwing COVID parties; and
  • Unabated racism that raises serious questions about whether the current round of protests will result in meaningful change or simply end up as another footnote in history as so many similar protests have done before.

Yet, as we prepare to celebrate America’s Independence Day, I was heartened to watch 5 young descendants of Frederick Douglass, who escaped slavery to become a prominent abolitionist, and demand that President Lincoln emancipate the slaves, recite his speech, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July. After they recited his moving speech, each young descendant offered a few thoughts of their own. Although they were all troubled by the lack of progress in the quest for racial justice, one of them poignantly said,

Pessimism is a tool of white oppression.

From Frederick Douglass’ unannounced visit to President Lincoln in the White House demanding that he emancipate the slaves.

Therefore, as a white person, I refuse to dwell in pessimism. So, even in these darkest of times, not only will I continue my life’s work to make this world a better place for all, but I will do what I can to teach others how to use their time, skills, money, and energy to combat racism, environmental degradation, gun violence, xenophobia, and yes, the list goes on, because there are so many ways we need to improve this world of ours.

Yesterday, a recent college graduate whom I had never met asked if he could talk to me. Although I did not know whether he was seeking my legal services or not, I arranged a time to talk to him. It turned out that he did not need my legal assistance. Rather, he wanted my advice about what could he, as a young white man, do to help combat racism? So, I shared a few lessons from my own experience.

  • Follow the lead of Black and other marginalized people, for they are the ones who are most impacted by racism. As I wrote from my own experience, this is what it means to be an ally.
  • Use your skills to assist Black and other marginalized people and organizations, whether it is 1:1 mentoring, Circles of Support for people coming out of incarceration; computer skills, health care knowledge or other expertise;
  • If you have the means, donate to anti-racism and anti-discrimination organizations. Whether we like it or not, it costs money to do advocacy work. My preference is to donate locally where I can closely observe the work of the groups I donate to. In Madison, my favorites are, Urban Triage, and Freedom, Inc.
  • Hold leaders accountable for their actions and inactions. While there are many ways to do this, at a minimum, this means, as the famous disability advocate said, Justin Dart famously said, Vote as if your life depended on it…because it does.”
  • Never give up, because it is the height of white privilege to fail to combat racism in our midst.
  • As I heard Israeli journalist Daniel Levy say yesterday, when addressing the prospect of Israeli annexation of Palestinian territory, “Lay the Dead Cat at the Door,” which in this context means, shine a bright light on racism and put it right in front of those who have the power to change our racist system.

Finally, the antidote to pessimism, is optimism, and one can only be optimistic, by recognizing the progress made through advocacy. I have been working for 25 years to dismantle the schools to prison pipeline. There are many aspects to this fight, but one of them has been a long battle to get police out of our schools. In just a few short weeks after George Floyd’s murder, at least 24 school districts, including Madison have decided to remove police from their schools. This is a major accomplishment, though we have a long way to go, and as I said in this TV interview, we must replace those police officers with peace officers who are trained to deescalate challenging behavior, because the goal should be safety not discipline.

In truth, the work to remedy the ills in our world is never done. But, allowing pessimism to get in the way of progress is indeed a tool of white oppression, which simply must not stand in our way.

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For more information on how I can help you accomplish progressive, effective systems change, contact me,  Jeff Spitzer-Resnick by visiting my web site: Systems Change Consulting.


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