Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez went on Instagram this week and gave an hour of sustained rhetoric that will change the minds of no one, but will give her choir a whole passionate symphony to sing together.
One of the subjects she addressed was “white supremacy,” which is a term that has to be confusing a lot of us these days.
Forgive us. We are old.
And for like 50 of our 51 years, “white supremacists” were skinhead guys, swastika-tattooed guys and guys with hoods. They were guys who, when you accused them of being “white supremacists,” said, “Yer goddamned right!”
Now, leaders like Ocasio-Cortez and antiracist writers like Ta-Nehisi Coates are saying the whole American society is white supremacist, which means a lot of us regular old white people must be white supremacists. Which is totally ridiculous. Or was totally ridiculous, until like 15 minutes ago it seems like to most of us, who just spent five years deciding what we thought about cultural appropriation.
I don’t have a huge antiracist bookshelf, I admit. And I’ve already caught some reviewer hell for some words in my forthcoming book that question the usefulness of the term “white privilege,” as sometimes used in conversation. “I don’t think that’s the last you’re going to hear about that,” said my wife, who had urged me to spike that essay in the first place. But I’m happy to have that debate; and I won’t even much mind losing it. During this mind-stretching year, I feel like I’m in college again.
But what are we to think of the idea that “white supremacists” are prevalent among us—or even that many of us have white supremacists inside us? When there are still the shaved-head/swastika/hooded guys out there—and so prominently of late!—going by the same name?
Here’s what I think is meant by non-skinhead/swastika/hooded white supremacists (and I eagerly invite clarification, elaboration or refutation): White people who love all people. Who have Black friends. Who think Martin Luther King was terrific. Who think Mexicans are terrific. Who want the best for all people. Who may be Republican and may be Democrat. And who may even be Black! But just believe—no, just sort of assume—basically and maybe even so deep down that they don’t actually even think about it, that white people (and/or men) are the drivers of history and naturally belong in the center, and in charge of the future. (And in charge of defining terms like “white supremacist.”)
Because that was the social order they spent their formative years in, the social order they learned to operate in and the social order they believe they know how to live out the rest of their lives in—and raise their kids in. The only social order they’ve ever known.
They don’t hate the idea of not being at the center of the social order: They just can’t imagine it, exactly. That makes them feel dumb. And when grown-ups feel dumb, they feel scared. And when they feel scared, some of them behave defensively, dismissing white meditations like the one you’re reading as “woke virtue signaling.”
Now, if you define white supremacist like that, how many of us have to cop to white supremacist attitudes, if we’re being honest? I think it would be easier to count the number of us who can entirely declaim it.
But if we’re going to have a mainstream grappling with this kind of white supremacy, it does seem we need a new word that’s decoupled from another term that’s equivalent to, scum of the earth.
Which is different.
That’s a really good point. Some of us grew up in a different time and place. We have evolved tremendously over the last 50+ years and we are trying to continuously evolve to understand what we were not required, expected, or even supposed, to understand once upon a time.
Tarring people with the white supremacist brush when they are doing their best to be allies is not not likely to inspire them to support the cause of human progress as actively as they might have done otherwise.
I don’t mind being corrected if I accidentally say soomething that comes off as insensitive or unhelpful, I really don’t. But don’t compare me to the guys with the beanshaves and big boots.
Poor AOC… she just doesn’t get it.
Yes, there is “white privilege.” But she seems to view it as a conscious, deliberate choice by most Whites, and she decides the “supremacist” label is more appropriate.
She doesn’t understand – maybe she doesn’t want to – that the “S” term symbolizes something very different. Infinitely more sinister. Infinitely more un-American. And infinitely more likely to undermine efforts to bridge the chasm caused by “privilege.”
(FWIW, I’m a life-long Dem, but more middle-of-the-road than she. I share many of her basic progressive goals [as do many other Dems], but I don’t see her offering any constructive, realistic suggestions for attaining them. Just like a true politician.)
I admire AOC’s energy and success in exciting her constituents and winning her seat in Congress. But she has let success go to her head and, in the process, wants to reshape the conversation solely on her terms.
The result is a level of hubris that worries me. Instead of leveraging her talents and building a real coalition, she has become carried away with her role as a media darling and winds up making statements that hurt more than help. As typified with her new definition of white supremacists.
Yes, David, we do need a new word. And with a language as rich as ours, surely she could find a better term to make her point.
Instead, she seems to relish her celebrity, making arrogant, often reckless statements, and missing out on the opportunity to make a positive difference.
God, almost sounds a little like Trump…
C’mon, AOC, take a deep breath and think before you speak. We do have a long way to go, but this traditional White Jew can’t and won’t accept being labeled a white supremacist.
Mike, you misunderstand my characterization of AOC. I’m not saying she is accusing you and me of being just like Nazis. She just got me thinking about this, with her thing about a white supremacist nation, which I believe ours is—even if mostly unwittingly.
You should listen to her hourlong thing on Instagram; it’s goddamned compelling. (And occasionally annoying.)
As for AOC, I have not a single quarrel with her. Tell me one specific thing she’s said that’s reckless. Yes, she’s farther left than some of us; that’s OK. Not every Democrat needs to be Every Democrat.
In short, I’m glad she’s on that wall, keeping Democrats honest.
And I know she’s not equating traditional White Jews with skinheads.
But we DO have to get smarter about how we talk about this stuff—all of us. (INFINITELY SMARTER.)