"I Don't Know What to Do With Good White People"

"This faded report is the type of official document a historian might consult if he were re-constructing the story of my family. The author, this white welfare officer, writes as if she is an objective observer, but she tells a well-worn story of Black women who refuse to work and instead depend on welfare. Occasionally, her clinical tone breaks down. Once, she notes that my mother is pretty. She probably considered herself a good white person...

Most of my white friends have responded to recent events with empathy or outrage. Some have joined protests. Others have posted Criming While White stories, a hashtag that has been criticized for detracting from Black voices. Look at me, the hashtag screams, I know that I am privileged. I am a good white person. Join me and remind others that you are a good white person too.

Over the past two weeks, I've seen good white people congratulate themselves for deleting racist friends or debating family members or performing small acts of kindness to Black people. Sometimes I think I'd prefer racist trolling to this grade of self-aggrandizement. A racist troll is easy to dismiss. He does not think decency is enough. Sometimes I think good white people expect to be rewarded for their decency...

I don't know which is worse, the unrepentant killer or the man who insists to the end that he meant well...

I don't think Darren Wilson or Daniel Pantaleo set out to kill Black men. I'm sure the cops who arrested my father meant well. But what good are your good intentions if they kill us?"

http://jezebel.com/i-dont-know-what-to-do-with-good-white-people-1671201391?utm_campaign=socialflow_jezebel_facebook&utm_source=jezebel_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow

I love when someone summarizes my feelings.

I know that in other ways, I am a good-privileged-person. And I think it helps a lot to be on both sides of this because, really, the issue is remembering that it's not about you. The issue is that people are not acting in recognition of the fact that other people are in pain; they are acting in recognition of the fact that they need to acknowledge certain things in order to keep seeming "good".

The thought process isn't "what does X group need from the systems that I have privilege in? What do individuals in my life need from me?", instead it's "What can I do? How will people see me if I do that?"

FB: "What a privilege, to concern yourself with seeming good while the rest of us want to seem worthy of life...

"You know what? He means well," we say. We lean on this, and the phrase is so condescending, so cloyingly sweet, so hollow, that I'd almost rather anyone say anything else about me than how awful I am despite how good I intend to be."