Ignorant Armies Clash

Over the weekend a young Asian-American man told me and some other white men about an experience he'd had in college -- graduate school, perhaps.  A paper he'd written was rejected by his professor because the professor considered its vocabulary too advanced or complex, so he assumed either that it was plagiarized or written by someone else.  (Compare his experience to that of the neurobiologist Ben Barres, who before transitioning to male in the 1990s was accused by an MIT professor of getting her boyfriend to solve a difficult test problem, because of course no woman could have done it.)  Luckily the young man had the courage to stand up for himself, and the professor wasn't so far gone as to refuse to let him prove his competence: which he did, and the professor changed his grade from F to A.

Now, the young man speaks English with a standard mid-American accent.  I don't know where he was born, but he was likely born in the US, or at the latest came here early enough to acquire English as fully as one would expect from a native speaker.  Maybe the professor hadn't heard him speak?  Or if he did, his preconceptions may have overlaid a Chinese accent in his mind's ear.  I don't know exactly what kind of racism drove him to this unfounded, unjustified conclusion, and it doesn't much matter, because my point is that this story gives me one more reason to cringe when someone speaks or racists or other bigots as "ignorant." 

Highly intelligent (for some sense of the word) and educated (for some sense of that one) people can harbor the most squalid prejudices and biases.  "Minority" people eager for status need to recognize, I think, that a doctorate isn't quite the crown of glory they take it for.  If you really mean that unschooled people can be, hell, are smarter than these pointy-headed professors with their diplomas and fancy words, then don't regard those diplomas and titles as signs of superiority.

It also occurred to me that this must have happened in this century.  The professor must have lived through the Civil Rights movement and other movements against entrenched attitudes; he could hardly claim to be too old to be aware of these matters, though as an academic who evidently was ready to harbor racist stereotypes, he no doubt chose not to learn from them.  Perhaps he was one of those academics who fumed against the culture wars of the 1990s, feeling embattled and persecuted for his attachment to traditional values.  Sometimes I think we need a little more cancel culture, not less.

Don't Blame Me, Bro!

Let me put it this way: Facebook is often a sewer, but it lets me keep a finger on the pulse of heartland America (not a place, but a state of mind) without spending much time there.

A Facebook friend with whom I went to high school passed this along the other day:

It gives some insight into some white people's reaction to the current surge of anti-racist activism: distraction and denial.

Apart from the shitty* versification, what makes this meme so offensive is its stubborn refusal to engage with -- well, anything, really: the actual complaints of Black Lives Matter and the athletes (not all of whom are black, by any means) who've taken a knee to protest institutional police violence, for one.  Apologists for racism love to complain when anyone brings up the American heritage of chattel slavery and Jim Crow; "I never owned a slave," they protest, and "Nobody now living in America has owned or been a slave."  But when someone criticizes racism in the present day, they try to change the subject to ancient history.

While slavery and Jim Crow are certainly relevant to racism today, taking a knee to protest police violence against black people and Black Lives Matter are primarily about abuses that are happening now.  Since people like those who made and shared the above meme don't want to grapple with or even acknowledge police and other racist violence, of course they resort to distraction and displacement.  I don't blame these people for slavery, but I do blame them for their attitudes now.  Despite all the Right's talk about personal responsibility, they panic when anyone holds them accountable for their own words and actions.

The emotional logic here is of course flag idolatry: for athletes to protest white supremacist violence and terror by refusing to stand for "The Star Spangled Banner" infuriates these people.  They take it as an intrusion of "politics" into sports events, though obeisance to the Stars and Stripes is political if anything is.  If the people who vilify Colin Kaepernick and BLM really cared about the flag and the ideals it stands for, they would care about this country's refusal to put those ideals into practice.  They don't, and indeed they oppose putting those ideals into practice.

So they hide behind The Troops, who, they claim moistly, fought and died for the flag.  The only black soldier they are interested in is one who kept the flag from touching the ground in battle, though he was shot several times.  Stories like this one, which circulated on Facebook a few weeks ago, make the flag into an idol and a fetish, to be valued above and beyond mere human life, but many people eat such stories up with a spoon.  (Despite this, they'll wear US flag britches, and sit on the ground in them without a thought.)  They also love explications of the symbolism of the flag - the stripes, the colors, the stars - which have nothing to do with ideals or principles or human lives.  Acknowledging the yawning gulf  between American ideals and the American treatment of black people is impossible for them, it seems.  I don't know why.

And this meme really backfires, by invoking those who "fought and died for you."  I suppose the military cemetery in the picture is Arlington National Cemetery, where black soldiers were buried in segregated areas until President Truman ended the practice by executive order in 1948.  He didn't do it out of the goodness of his heart, but because civil rights activists like A. Philip Randolph pressured him -- and it was an election year.

The American armed forces were segregated for decades after that, however, thanks to resistance by the parents and grandparents of people like my Facebook friend and whoever made this meme.  "Your rights are still protected" was a lie when black soldiers were barred from combat and buried in Jim Crow military graveyards, and it continues to be a lie when police officers murder black people with impunity.  World War II was a tipping point for black Americans in many ways: many questioned the validity of fighting for a country that denied them their rights.  "There's no one here to blame"?  It's probably impossible to determine exactly which white soldiers refused to serve next to black soldiers, but it's certain that many of them are buried in white-only areas at Arlington and in other military cemeteries, and those who resisted desegregation are blameworthy if anyone is: it makes an obscene mockery of the claim that the US fought for freedom even in World War II.

Some of my white racist Facebook friends have black family members.  After the police murder of George Floyd, one of them broke her silence on the issue to mourn police cars that had been set on fire.  I asked her why the destruction of machinery bothered her when the taking of human lives didn't.  She denied it, claiming that all lives matter to her, she doesn't see color, she loves everybody!  I told her I don't believe her, and I mentioned numerous cases of horrific racist violence, such as Dylann Roof's slaughter of nine black worshipers (one of them a Vietnam veteran) in their church; or the Tree of Life Synagogue massacre, or the Christchurch mosque massacre, and pointed out that like all my racist Facebook friends, she had never expressed horror over these attacks, or noticed them on Facebook at all.  Only the destruction of police cars moved her to speak out.  Something is seriously wrong there, and as I said, she is not alone in her lack of concern about human lives of the wrong color.  She had no good answer.  A few weeks later she posted some family photos, without comment, which included a couple of black (or more likely mixed) teenagers.  I've seen these kids in her timeline before, and I presume that one of her children married one of Them. (It would be interesting to know more of the background, but it's not really my business.)  I didn't probe, but maybe I should have asked what she'd do if that lovely girl were killed by a cop.  Doesn't she worry about her?  Does she believe that her own whiteness will somehow protect her grandchildren from racism?  She's a Trump supporter, so I presume she just doesn't think. 

I believe that this verse and meme are directed at black Americans, as shown by the reference to "your rights" and the admonition to take a knee before military graves.  Probably it was first made to attack Kaepernick and the other athletes who followed his lead.  If so, it's even more insulting than I thought at first glance.  Time's up.
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* I almost wrote "execrable," but decided it would dignify this doggerel too much.

Send in the Drones

There have been several more killings of black people by police since the police murder of George Floyd, and I think the only reasonable conclusion is that these attacks are displays of defiance.  The police are letting us all know that criticism just makes them madder: they will continue to execute black Americans.

I've been seeing more online complaints from people who have police officers in their lives - spouses, partners, family members - who, they say, are good people sincerely dedicated to serving and protecting all citizens.  They may well be telling the truth, but if so they're talking to the wrong people. They should be angry at the supposed bad apples, the insular, violent police culture that kills without feeling anything.  Their loved ones in uniform should also be speaking out, though admittedly that would be more dangerous for them.  As bad as stereotyping is, killing innocent people -- declaring oneself the judge, jury and executioner -- is much worse, a deadly serious problem that Americans have known about for a long time but not tried to correct.

The same is probably true of the lesser racist incidents that we're hearing about.  The people who are behaving like this know what they're doing, they know it will be widely disapproved, but they do it anyway.  Remember when Ben Carson got in trouble for comparing homosexuality to bestiality and child molestation: I noticed then that bigots always get in trouble for saying such things, but they keep on saying them.  I suggested that it may be some strange compulsion, but I think it's also entitlement.

A day ago, someone posted this on a local Facebook group, including a pretty picture of a lake surrounded by mountains for some reason:

After reading some exchanges between people I knew from my hometown a long time ago, I struggled with how to respond. Then I also saw positive signs, and this came to me:

During these times of uncertainty, conflict, and diverging perspectives, a heartfelt Thank You:
To those who are listening more than talking (or shouting).
To those who acknowledge with peace that there are perspectives other than our own.
To those who understand that history cannot be changed,
and to those who understand that history must be reckoned with,
and that history is much more about people than it is about dates.
To those who can disagree without denigrating or dehumanizing those with whom we disagree.
To those who understand that strength is not always found in force or violence.
To those who can begin a sentence with, “I could be wrong…” and mean it.
To those on “the left” who seek common ground with those on “the right” for a greater good, and to those on “the right” who still see the humanity in those on “the left” for a greater good. And vice versa.
To those whose minds are open enough to understand that there is more than one side to the story on CNN, FOX, NBC, OANN and of course, Facebook or Twitter… as well as what our friend told us.
Thank you
To those who are being intentionally kind and positive, because we’ve seen those who have become hardened in their negativity toward others.
To those who are being kind to those who have become hardened… because they need it, too.
To those who believe that Black Lives Matter and All Lives Matter and Blue Lives Matter, because we recognize they do not have to be exclusive statements; that they (WE) are intertwined more than we might understand, and that each has the right to raise their sign and be heard.
And Thank You to those who believe in causes that lift up the Humanity in all of us.
And to those who continue to offer the best of ourselves, because right now we need our Best Selves.
Peace and Grace to all, including those who may disagree…

This is very well-intentioned.  My first response was that I appreciated it, and I could be wrong, but I sometimes think that "seeking common ground" is a problematic idea. Both-sidesing Black Lives Matter, All Lives Matter, and Blue Lives matter is problematic because All Lives Matter and Blue Lives Matter aren't meant to find common ground but to deny it.  And I could be wrong, but I think I'm just looking at a version of what Ellen Willis mocked forty years ago: "The male chauvinist bias is that women are inferior to men.  The feminist bias is that women are equal to men.  The unbiased view is that the truth lies somewhere in between."

"Common ground" is a tactic of the lazy. Too much ground has been ceded to racists and other bigots all along. "Oh, that's just how he was raised." "She didn't mean any harm." "He doesn't see himself as a racist, that's so harsh." "You don't want to sink to their level." And so on. The result has been that half a century after I graduated from high school, we have an open white supremacist in the White House. Racists and other bigots aren't interested in finding common ground except with each other.

Bigotry doesn't "lift up the Humanity in all of us," and I know this poster didn't mean to imply that it does; but they need to remember that we're dealing with attitudes that deny the humanity of all of us. We've let them go unchallenged for far too long. I never forget the humanity of bigots, and that is why I won't let them get away with it. Bigotry is a lifestyle choice; you're not born that way; you can change. Change is often difficult and painful, and well-meaning platitudes will only delay it.

That was the easy part.  But on reflection it's even clearer to me that I, at least, am addressing two different tasks.  One is engaging with people whose views I disagree with in varying degrees, from disputing facts to distaste to outright enmity.  I am capable of great patience with someone who wants me to explain why I don't agree with them, and over the years I've put a lot of effort into listening to opponents and trying to keep the emotional temperature low.  I don't always succeed, but then neither do they.  One difficulty, of course, is that so many people don't know how to have a serious, reasoned discussion.  As I've noticed often before, they believe that simply declaring their opinion is as far as a discussion can go, when it's really only the beginning.  They tend to get upset when someone rebuts them, because real discussion is beyond their comprehension.  I do my best to help them learn, though.

But when someone says, as someone did in the same group yesterday but in a different thread, "Who cares about the niggers anyway?" -- then I see no point in worrying about their feelings, seeking common ground, trying to see things from their perspective, being kind and generous.  That person is old enough to know what they are saying, and if they still think that racism is acceptable or cool, it's unlikely that any amount of considerate explanation will change their mind.  If such a person wants to have a discussion, I'm willing to give it a try, but they almost never do.  The first thing I want them to know in the meantime is that I will not tolerate bigotry, I will not pretend to respect them or their views, I will shun them if I can and urge everyone else to do so.

I admit that this isn't satisfactory.  Since 2015 we've known that millions of Americans have been seething for decades over the official liberal rejection of racism, and they welcomed the rise of Donald Trump as a license to let their bigotry run free.  Just telling them they're wrong, they're bad, and shunning them will not change their minds.  There has been a hope that bigotry is generational, and that as older generations die off, so will bigotry.  First, I doubt it - my racist peers are of the younger 60s generation that we hoped would leave racism behind. Second, we can't wait.  If someone is beating a child, you don't hold off and hope that the assailant will change over time; you stop the assault.  It's not unfair, after you've removed the victim to safety, to ask the assailant what they thought they were doing.  Dialogue can happen only after the power to harm has been taken from them.

But another factor that must also be addressed is the nice, superficially reasonable person who tries to deny or minimize bigotry, like nice, liberal, but insane Michael Kinsley, who tried to paper over Ben Carson's bigotry; or nice, sensible, but craven Wes Alwan, who defended Alec Baldwin's homophobic raving; or the godly white moderates who urged Martin Luther King Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement to wait a few centuries until racism withered away by itself.  Such people are part of the problem.  They are more concerned with protecting bigots than the targets of bigotry, and they should be called out and challenged, even attacked (verbally) no less than the Ben Carsons, the Alec Baldwins, the White Citizens Councils they serve and protect.