Leave it up to the White people to perpetuate all types of fucked up levels of whiteness. On our boat cruise searching for hippos and crocodiles, all the White people sat on the edge of the boat, the most appealing place to sit. Sitting there without regard of who they were leaving behind or asking if anyone else wanted to sit there. Sure, it’s not a big deal. But its incidents like these and others that contribute to interpersonal manifestations of the systems of dominance. Or when they ask who wants to ride in the back of the truck, all the White people run and sit as if it’s the cool thing to do. Or when the White people throw the water at each other even though St. Lucia is coming in terms with a drought, and the Africans don’t even have that kind of luxury. This, I say, is representation of Whiteness. White privilege being this invisible set of ideas, privileges, and power abilities. But that is exactly what White privilege is: invisible to the White person, but it creates resentment amongst everyone else. Because we know from our history, and we know from our frequent experiences the different types of treatment. And when they continue to perpetuate this feckless sense of vainness, it becomes distrustful and exclusive.
Sure we had the ability to challenge them and say something to them. But this repetitive attitude, and repetitive calling them out becomes a burden. Leave to the person of color to teach the White person about racism. Why do we have to carry the burden all the time? Perhaps its time to start taking ownership of one’s actions and start calling themselves. Otherwise, we will never move forward and we will ALWAYS bring the “race card.”
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