Just Because I'm White Doesn't Mean I'm Wrong

I understand what it’s like to be white.

I understand the privileges bestowed on me purposely and unconsciously by others just because of how I look.

And I understand that I don’t understand what it’s like to not be white. Intellectually, maybe, but not really.

It’s not right to assume that I’m blind or ignorant or incapable or unqualified to have opinions about race because I never had to sit in the back of a bus or drink from a designated water fountain.

I get to define what I think about black people.

Not black people.

Not other white people.

Me.

I get to decide what I think is effective and less so when it comes to addressing race relations. I don’t have to be black to have ideas about how best to fight racism. My ideas might not be the best but they’re not automatically the worst just because I’m less likely to die during a routine traffic stop than a person of color.

I believe that #BlackLivesMatter and I want to help address the problems faced by people of color in this country. But when I dared to use Facebook yesterday to criticize Mara Jacqueline Willaford and Marissa Jenae Johnson, the two women who disrupted a political rally in Seattle last Saturday, August 8, I was ridiculed, unfriended and patronized by blacks and whites alike.

I was accused of being blind to the benefits of white privilege and unqualified to have an opinion about effective activism. My posts (shared below) were reposted with derisive introductions and I found myself for the first time in the strange position of having to defend myself against accusations of racism.

For the record, I judge people by the content of their character rather than the color of their skin. Always have and always will.

Isn’t that a good thing?

I get it. People are frustrated because their wives, husbands, brothers, sisters, children and friends can’t go outside without being killed. It’s not safe in Ferguson, Staten Island, McKenney, Hempstead, Sanford, Cincinnati or anywhere else. But it’s not right to marginalize, silence or disregard me because I don’t look like Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Sandra Bland, Troy Davis, Sam DuBose or the countless other people of color who’ve been terrorized and murdered in the last few years. Just like it’s wrong to obstruct Barack Obama’s agenda and torpedo his presidency because he’s not white, it’s wrong to insult and alienate me because I am.

• I was just unfriended by a young African-American man because I objected to his saying, "Most white people are evil." How strange to find myself in this position.
• Wow. I was unfriended by a black guy for essentially being white and told by people half my age that I need to learn about white privilege and to let people fight for justice and equality using whatever tactics they want. Time to take a break from Facebook.

• I just unfriended a white Malcolm X wannabe for calling me a "condescending, paternalistic asshole." One thing Mara Jacqueline Willaford and Marissa Jenae Johnson have succeeded at is shortening my Facebook friends list.
• People are turned off by combativeness and obnoxiousness when it isn't obviously connected to any message or "ask." No one likes loud for the sake of loud, as any Occupy Wall Street activist can now tell you. What did Mara Jacqueline Willaford and Marissa Jenae Johnson achieve with their performance? Who did they reach? What was their message? Whose eyes were opened? They achieved nothing - other than to make people dislike them and not care what they would have said had they been able to say it. They weren't off-putting because they forced white people to look at the systemic racism that's killing black people in this country. They were off-putting just for the sake of being off-putting. That makes potential allies look to other issues and causes and is therefore stupid.
• One of my Facebook friends - a young white guy - keeps posting that it's just too bad if people have a problem with confrontational disruptions. Play Malcolm X all you want, pal, but Mara Jacqueline Willaford and Marissa Jenae Johnson alienated potential allies and damaged, more than helped, the BLM movement. That's a fact.

• Note to people of color: there are many of us white people who truly believe that black lives matter and desperately want to play a role in making things better. If you're telling us that we have to embrace assholes like the two Seattle women and their embarrassing behavior in order to affect change, you're alienating people who want to be in your corner. That seems nonstrategic and unwise to this middle-aged white dude.

• Note to BLM activists: I suggest more Bree Newsome and less Mara Jacqueline Willaford/Marissa Jenae Johnson.

• Call it whatever you want but that wasn't "uncomfortable activism" in Seattle the other day. That was two obnoxious, shrill, off-putting microphone hogs embarrassing themselves and temporarily derailing an important movement. Those two immature assholes alienated your allies and made it MORE likely that you'll continue to fear for your lives when you see blinking red and blue lights in your rearview mirrors. Why you claim and embrace misguided fools is a mystery to this middle-aged white dude.
• Now that I've seen this clip, I'm even more sure of my opposition to these shrill, obnoxious, off-putting "activists." This isn't about frustration over police brutality and racism; this is two immature assholes embarrassing themselves and derailing an important movement. If you think my view is shaped by my racism and/or white privilege, let me know and I'll unfriend you faster than butter melts on a hot August sidewalk.

When I said yesterday that I was going to take a break from Facebook because of the vitriol, someone told me not to be so sensitive. I may be thin-skinned but I’m not thick-headed. It’s not helpful to attack people who want to fight this fight with you. Yes, some white people are the problem. But some white people are not. Race relations may not improve even if we’re at the table but things sure won’t get better if we’re kicked out of the room.

Just like one would think Israelis would know better than to do to Palestinians what was done to them, you’d think people of color would know better than to silence people who want to communicate with them. I guess nothing’s black or white, huh?

A Club I'd Like to Join

Old Days - Chicago

Sara MacCalman Responds to Right Wing News

Sara MacCalman is a gifted writer who gave me permission to repost her response to an obnoxious meme circulated in Facebook by a group calling itself "Right Wing News."  It's brief but wonderful.

I guess you must be referring to the old America where one person could support a family, where kids could go to college without going into debt, where the water was still relatively clean, where there was a thriving manufacturing economy and finding products that were made in America wasn't just about impossible.  That fine old America where 30% of workers were union members, where the tax rate for wealthy Americans was 91% (1950),where the majority of people actually voted and they voted on paper ballots counted by honest, trustworthy local citizens.  Those were the days, that's for sure.  The days when the media was not all owned by one or two corporations whose goal is to keep people sedated with nonsense and out-right lies, when people trusted and respected the officials they elected and when campaigns were based on issues, not the amount of money raised.  The America where we all valued that which we held in common, like our public schools and our public land. Where we, in the form of our government, dealt with problems such as crime from the standpoint of public safety and restorative justice rather than the profit motive.  I would say that most of us miss that America.

Sara MacCalman is a self-described “5th generation Montanan, an avid reader of everything I can get my hands on, a permaculturist who feels that the most radical thing to do in these mad times is to grow as much of your family's food as is humanly possible, a firm believer that most dogs are finer human beings than most people, and a glutton for hope in any of its myriad forms.”

Thirsty, Officer?

That's the Way I Always Heard It Should Be - Carly Simon

Mark Richardson on Michigan's Proposal 1

I ran across a well-researched, well-written analysis of Proposal 1 – Michigan’s complex, convoluted, controversial ballot measure that’ll be decided by voters this coming Tuesday – a few days ago that conveys the reasons why the “road and bridge repair proposal” should be defeated much better than I can. The author, Mark Richardson, gave me permission to share it here for “What’s the Diehl?” readers.

After much study and a lot of soul-searching, I’ve decided to vote no on Proposal 1. Needless to say, I’m speaking for myself only and no other organization or group I’m associated with.

I understand very well that our roads are in deplorable condition. And contrary to conservative opponents of Proposal 1, I believe we need to increase taxes to repair and maintain them. We spend less per capita on roads than any other state.

I also understand that delaying needed road repairs just adds to the costs, and that Michigan residents pay a “hidden tax,” in the form of auto repairs, as a result of bad roads. I am also aware of the earmarks for education and local governments in the legislation appended to the ballot proposal. I understand how schools and municipalities have struggled and I know that additional money would help.

None of these facts are enough to persuade me to vote yes.

Proposal 1 would virtually complete, and via constitutional amendment cement into place, the largest tax shift from business to individuals in Michigan history.

Beginning in 2011, Governor Snyder and the Republicans have moved to minimize or eliminate the tax burden on business in this state. They replaced the Michigan business tax with a flat 6% tax that resulted in a $1.7 billion tax cut for business. In 2014 they eliminated the business personal property tax. This tax cut starts out at $100 million in 2016, increases to $350 million in 2017, and to $500 million per year in 10 years. All in all, Snyder and company will have reduced business taxes by about $2 billion per year, give or take, when the cuts are fully phased in.

At the same time the Republicans have increased taxes on individuals. Eliminating deductions and credits, taxing pensions, and canceling a scheduled income tax rate reduction increased individual taxes by about $1.4 billion per year starting in 2012. Now, Proposal 1 asks us to increase the sales tax by 17% and the motor vehicle fuel tax, initially, by over 100%. These, together with other measures, such as the elimination of registration fee discounts based on vehicle depreciation, amount to a combined tax increase of about $2 billion additional dollars to be paid, again, mostly by individuals.

I believe in fair and progressive taxation. Proposal 1 would result in a tax system that is more regressive and more unfair than ever before. Almost 100,000 businesses in Michigan pay no taxes at all anymore. The business share of overall taxation is now smaller in Michigan than it is in 47 states. On the other hand, Michigan would end up tied for the second highest sales tax rate in the country if Proposal 1 is adopted. The increases in the sales tax and fuel tax will add hundreds of dollars to the tax burden of average households. The proposed increase in the earned income tax credit will help, but not by enough to offset the increase.

I might feel differently if I thought Proposal 1 would actually solve our problems. But reliable estimates are that it will actually take at least $2 billion or more per year to put our roads in acceptable condition. Proposal 1 would make $1.2 billion available, raising questions as to whether it would even raise enough money to be effective.

Moreover, road funding will depend even more heavily on fuel tax revenues, which may continue to decline as vehicles become more efficient and as people drive fewer miles. Declining fuel tax revenue is the reason we fell behind on road maintenance to begin with! In short, I do not see Proposal 1 as the answer to our road problems.

Supporters on the progressive side say the alternatives are worse. In the short term, they are. I have no illusions about what this legislature would try to do. But we should bear in mind that the next election is just 18 months from now. We should keep fighting for the philosophy of government we believe in, now and next fall.

It seems to me that the economic and social harm to this state which would result from the system of regressive taxation we are being asked to ratify far outweighs the risks harm from continuing to fight for a fair and feasible funding mechanism for the roads.

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Click here for the official ballot language. And click here for MLive’s slideshow entitled, “Michigan Proposal 1 and the 10 laws it would trigger.”

Mark Richardson, 64, is an attorney who focuses on environmental and zoning and planning law. A graduate of Michigan State University and Wayne State University Law School, he worked in a county prosecutor’s office for over 15 years where, as chief of the water quality unit, he prosecuted environmental lawbreakers. He teaches environmental law and policy at Oakland University, serves on his local planning commission, and helped create both the Michigan Environmental Council and the Michigan League of Conservation Voters. Mark and his wife, Susan, are the parents of two adult children. He’s been to Alaska twice in recent years, fishing and hiking in the wilderness, and enjoys baseball, cycling and social media.