Just because someone mentions something bad that some white people did in the past does not mean they are attacking white people.
Surely you’ve heard it said that white people should not feel guilty about what other white people did in the past. That we should not feel like those bad guys are “us.” Well, the same logic works in this case. Why should I feel like saying that these white people in the past did something bad is a slight on me as a white person? Should I feel affinity towards them because of the color of my skin?
No, the only reason to feel that way is if I thought the speaker was racist towards white people–if I thought the reason for bringing up bad things some white people did in the past was to say something bad about all white people. But this is an unlikely case. I don’t know about mistymage, but most of the people saying the things she said are white people themselves. And there is no other sign that they are racist towards white people, as they have white friends, white loved ones, and otherwise treat white people as equals.
Yes, the smallpox story is inaccurate. And I have no problem with people debunking it. But you aren’t merely debunking it. You’re using it as part of a narrative of people attacking “White America.” You assume the motives are that some people hate “White Americans.” But it’s not. The reason the idea of the smallpox blankets caught on is due to the science of memetics. In short, it’s because it encapsulates a couple true ideas: (1) that the European colonists greatly mistreated Native Americans, conquering them rather than just making their own settlements. And (2) that a lot of the killing was not through warfare but disease, which allowed for easy conquest. The story did not spread because people hated “White America”–hell, it was white people who spread it, for centuries now.
Thing is, this says nothing about what mistymage said, which is that the celebration of Plymouth Rock is celebrating some colonists who did a lot of shitty things to the native peoples. And your attempt at a rebuttal not only doesn’t say she’s wrong, but it leaves out something important. Those Native Americans only did that because they were fighting back against the invaders. Sure, we may object to their tactics today, but there is a material difference between the conquerors who come in and take from others and the conquered who attempt to stop them.
But, again, this doesn’t attack you or me as a white person. The whole “White America” concept is poor at best. It creates this narrative of a common white people in America. But that doesn’t exist. The people considered white back then aren’t the same as now. The Irish, Italians, Greeks, Slavic peoples, Russians, etc were not considered white. And our skin color didn’t change. It’s just that “white” is the term for everyone who gets accepted as part of the majority in certain nations. It’s why there’s a debate on whether Jewish people count as white. It’s why light skinned Hispanic people are often not considered white.
The whole concept is one that lends itself to “white grievance politics,” the idea that white people face some level of widespread persecution for being white. But we don’t. People tend to feel that way because non-white people are being more accepted, and that feels like something is being taken away. But it isn’t.
Or, a more sympathetic issue, is that the working class in America are feeling persecution, and the white people are mistaking that as persecution for being white, rather than because we/they’re poor. And it doesn’t help that both major political parties are paying attention to corporate interests. For the Democrats, that means that our message for the working class has been stomped out, leaving minority issues in the front. I can understand why that may lead people to think that the Democrats only care about non-white people.
And, for that reason, I can see deemphasizing some of this stuff temporarily to help. But that’s different from treating it as a legitimate grievance. Saying that we should consider the history of the things we celebrate is not a bad thing. It is not an attack.
I hope this all makes sense. I started out upset that you could even believe the “white grievance” crap, but wound up sort agreeing with you that maybe we focus on it too much. But, at the same time, I do want you to explore why you feel that “White America” is being attacked. Why do you buy into that narrative?
Because that narrative is the one that the white nationalist exploit. A “White America” suggest that there is a white nation (common group of people) inside of America with their own grievances and issues. It gives them a foothold to start pushing the idea that it is those outside of “White America” that are the problem.
I do not want to further that narrative.
