Our society is built upon a legacy of racial subjugation and exploitation. The existence of the United States is built upon the evils of slavery and land theft, and the legacy of those institutions can be seen in the numerous political, economic, and social racial inequalities and injustices that plague Black people on a daily basis. Through the glorious tradition of resistance to oppression, the power of these structures has, to some extent, been diminished. That tradition of resistance has been carried to this day and now undergirds the modern Black struggle in the United States. In our contemporary struggle, the most dangerous ideology to the advancement of Black people is white liberalism.
I want to distinguish this specific form of liberalism from true liberal ideology. white liberalism operates on a presumed sense of racial tolerance, cultural sensitivity, and understanding of structural inequalities. It seeks to present itself as championing the rights of “minorities” while actually seeking to establish a monopoly on morality and intelligence that it uses to somehow qualify it to engage in the struggle for Black liberation. This ideology touts itself as understanding the full extent of the experiences and needs of Black people in the United States, and, thus, thinks itself as being able to play a guiding role in the struggle for Black liberation. The very notion that Black people require a guiding hand in our efforts to achieve equality is founded on the parental view of Black people that has often characterized the American political and social landscape. It views us as incapable of understanding and achieving the structural and institutional change that is needed to ensure that we are treated fair and equitably. I wish to dispel this notion by stating here and now that no one understands our needs as intricately as we do; no one understands the change that must come about to achieve the liberation we seek as intricately as we do; and no one understands the structures and institutions that deter that change as intricately as we do. These structures are a daily blight upon us and affect us on a literal constant basis. We don’t need white liberals who erroneously believe that they understand the plight of the Black individual to help us free ourselves from the chains that they are complicit in maintaining; any position that aligns itself with this white-saviorist view is nothing more than a modern “white man’s burden.”
The façade of white liberalism sells it as an ideology that rests upon an egalitarian view of humankind, and, as such, champions and safeguards the rights of “marginalized” groups. This veil of equality that drapes white liberalism hides its true agenda: the maintenance of white supremacy. The structures that white people have erected to exploit and subjugate Black people continue to garner them material benefits till this day. The wealth inequality between the average Black and white household; the vast disparities in arrests, convictions, and sentencing lengths between Black and white people; the disparities in access to quality education between Black and white people; and the numerous political, economic, and social inequalities based on race do not escape the notice of white people. There isn’t a single white person in the United States, no matter their degree of ignorance, that does not understand that the historical structures that have been erected in this country continue to unfairly benefit them in numerous ways. And there is not a single white person in this country, no matter how disenfranchised they may be, that does not benefit from these structures in some way. As such, there is a collective investment among white people to maintain these structures of exploitation and subjugation so that they can perpetually reproduce systemic inequalities.
It would be foolish to assume that the white liberal is not also vested in maintaining these structures. There is a reason that when speaking of Black liberation, there are stark differences in the ways that Black freedom fighters and white liberals engage the topic. For the Black freedom fighter, it is a sense of urgency that characterizes our speech; there is always talk of the need for transformative action NOW and the importance of haste in our efforts. For us, there is no such thing as patience, no such thing as waiting; there is an understanding that these structures that continuously kill us cannot be allowed to exist for a single day longer. However, the white liberal always speaks of change in terms of delays: “it will take a long time,” “it may be a while until things improve.” The entirety of their speech is meant to stall true active change, and their favorite tool for stalling this change is reform. The white liberal will use reform to make incremental improvements in various systems of domination, all the while maintaining the underlying structures that engineer the harm in the first place. One can think of these reforms as trying to hide the cracks in a decaying wall by repainting it; the effect is the illusion that real change is actually happening when, in reality, the structures continue to create disparities and uphold white supremacy. If the white liberal was truly invested in helping to bring about Black liberation and a truly egalitarian society, then they would concentrate their efforts in their own communities where the source of racism resides. They would mobilize to engage the ignorance, fear, and hate of Black people that emanates from the white community and adopt a stern and unwavering anti-racist position. However, Black liberation is of no concern to the white liberal as long as they can continue to play the part of the tolerant and caring person, while benefiting from the structures that continue to undermine us.
As Black people, it is of the utmost importance that we thoroughly interrogate who is truly for us and who truly just wants to use us. We cannot simply accept any espousal of ally ship from white liberals at face value;it is understandable that when all that you have known from a group of people are repudiations and violent blows, kind words and smiles from members of that group may seem harmless. But if those smiles are meant to deceive and ensnare you, then they are as deadly as snakes. And I believe it would do us good to remember that no one has a nicer smile than Lucifer when he is trying to trick you.
~Black Hands ’22
