Resource of the Day: White Nonsense Roundup

There’s a white chick I went to school with who comments on many of my social media accounts. We’ve never spoken. We are not Facebook friends nor are we Twitter followers. But anytime I call out violence I or my people experience on my personal social media, lo and behold, white girl will appear, leaving behind racist/Zionist/Islamophobic crap. More often than not, I am too exhausted to wipe after her. And I don’t block her because I am desperately holding on to the belief that someday, something I post will somehow get through to her.

So, imagine my joy, when Juliana sent over a link to the “White Nonsense Roundup,” a group that is like most others in the world (by white people and for white people), but whose function is to address our inherently racist society, teach “white friends, relatives, contacts, speakers, and authors who are contributing to structural racism,” and assume emotional labor typically carried by POC to fix shit around us. WNR writes:

If you are a Person of Color (POC), you have enough on your plate! It’s not your job to educate white people about privilege, racism, and what’s really going on in the world. If a white person is filling your social media with white nonsense – anything from overt racism to well-intentioned problematic statements – tag us and a white person will come roundup our own. We welcome your involvement, resource suggestions, and will take your feedback seriously. We are also happy to boost the signal of voices of color.

Dope.

This “roundup”reminds me of Kamau Bell’s directive last year to white people to “come get your boy” (i.e. Donald Trump). It is an acknowledgment that racism and racists are not an aberration, but rather, the logical outcome of whiteness and the family/friends/colleagues of even so-called good liberals. It forces good liberals then to realize that they too are white, that they too benefit from systems that cost the rest of us housing, jobs, safety, emotional well-being, and that they have a moral responsibility to do more than distance themselves from racists (i.e. LOL DRUMPF IS SOO BAD LOL [INSERT MEME])—which is easy and requires little-to-no work—and to instead wield their privilege to talk to and teach other violent people.

I must admit that I’m taking this resource with a grain of nervousness. After all, we’re used to problematic things happening when white people do anti-racism work. One case in point is their posting a photo of a pro-Black *does not equal* anti-police sign; if you’re interested in reading why folks strongly disagree with this narrative and why progressives *are and should be* anti-police, read Mychal’s piece over at The Nation. That being said, it does seem that this group is generally willing to take critical feedback and this, coupled with a genuine desire to confront racism, is enough to make me happy. I’m in awe of another reminder and example of what “regular” community members can do to intervene in racism and violence. And I am grateful to hand off that white girl on my mentions to someone else.