101 Ways White Liberal and Progressive Women Perpetuate White Supremacy:
1. Thinking that voting Blue is going to bring change.
2. Going full throttle with regard to women's rights, but expecting Black people to fight for their rights in a "respectful" manner.
3. Equating the inequities women, queers, and disabled people experience to those of Black people. This erases the fact that Black people can also be women, queers, and disabled.
4. Lecturing Black people about what racism is and isn't, yet staying silent at family gatherings when relatives say racist things.
5. Seeking out Black people whose opinions do not conflict with yours and using them as a prop in arguments with other Black people about race.
6. Insisting that partnering with Black people absolves one of accountability pertaining to your role in the promulgation white of white supremacy.
7. Insisting that having biracial children absolves one of accountability pertaining to your role in the promulgation of white supremacy (you know who else had biracial children? PLANTATION MASTERS)
8. Insisting that fostering and/or adopting Black children absolves one of accountability pertaining to your role in the promulgation of white supremacy (transracial adoption is GENOCIDE. I said what I said)
9. Engaging in DEI efforts in a workplace without addressing the systemic gaps that make it an unsafe place for racially marginalized people to be in the first place.
10. Insisting that you want to be "inclusive" when, in reality, you want Black people to gratefully ASSIMILATE.
11. Not including Black people at the very inception of any kind of collaboration- and then turning around after the thing has been formulated and attempt to do "outreach" for the sake of "DEI".
12. Only viewing Black people as experts in DEI- but then questioning their expertise if their efforts make you uncomfortable.
13. Assuming Black people are ignorant about yoga, meditation, and the New Age.
14. Appropriating "tribal", "ethnic", and "exotic" imagery into your aesthetic (wearing bindis, getting dream catcher tattoos, participating in all-white African drumming circles, getting dreads, jumping the broom, etc)
15. Getting uncomfortable when Black people, women, especially, speak with authority and in declarative statements about anything. Including their own lived experiences.
16. Demanding that Black people "meet" you where you are at in conversations about the oppression they experience- you are basically requiring that they put their safety on the line for the sake of your comfort.
17. Living in and/or conducting business in a gentrified neighborhood- especially under the guise of "historic preservation".
18. Assuming Black people need your "help".
19. Making a career out of "helping" Black people.
20. Claiming direct proximity to racial marginalization in spite of presenting as white as a means of skirting accountability for engaging in racist behavior ("My grandmother was part Black!").
21. Playing "Devil's Advocate" on social media posts about race. The Devil doesn't need your help. What the fuck is wrong with you?
22. Fixating on the anger of Black women, yet turning the other cheek to what is often the cause of Black women's anger: misogynoir.
23. Telling a Black woman Democrat candidate for office, "It's just not your time" or "Maybe you should move to a more urban district". No one ever tells white candidates that their skin color impedes their ability to represent shit.
24. Releasing statements on racial justice full of words that you know will never come to fruition.
25. Supporting a candidate that identifies racial equity as being a top priority for their presidential administration- and then continuing to cage Brown people at the southern US border, as well as renege on a strong plurality of their promises to Black voters.
26. Being white and making any kind of profit whatsoever, financial or otherwise, off of "anti-racism"/DEI work.
27. Positioning yourself for a job that you know was specifically earmarked for a racially marginalized person.
28. Following Black people on social media to make up for the fact that you don't know any in real life- and only commenting when they post something that you, in your utterly limited experience, disagree with.
29. Only talking about race with other white people. SURJ is a vacuum, folks.
30. Becoming unnerved when you are referred to as a "white person". This clearly indicates that you think that white people are the default setting for "people". You aren't. Not anymore.
31. Hiring a Black person to do DEI- as a consultant or an employee- and expecting them to shoulder all of the white rage that inevitably ensues.
32. Hiring a Black person to lead an organization and expecting them to shoulder all of the white rage that inevitably ensues.
33. Engaging with a Black woman in leadership in a way that starkly contrasts with how you engage with white people in leadership (assuming incompetence, demanding they engage in secretarial tasks, publicly questioning their decisions, etc).
34. Assuming all Black people come from the "inner city"- and, if you came from the "inner city", insisting that your origin story absolves you of accountability pertaining to your role in promulgating white supremacy.
35. Assuming that hitting up some Black churches and barber shops the Sunday before election day will clinch the Black vote.
36. Assuming that Black people "should" vote Democrat "if they know what's good for them."
37. Assuming Black people who don't vote are "lazy".
38. Dismissing generations of Black activists who have urged the Democratic Party to prioritize protecting the rights of Black voters. WELL, LOOK AT US NOW.
39. Dismissing generations of Black activists who have urged the Democratic Party to prioritize the reproductive justice of Black folks. WELL, SHIT, THERE GOES ROE V WADE.
40. Dismissing generations of Black activists who have urged the Democratic Party to center the safety of Black folks via gun control legislation. WELL, I'LL BE DAMNED- ANOTHER MASSACRE HAPPENED DAY BEFORE YESTERDAY.
41. Dismissing generations of Black activists who have urged the Democratic Party to acknowledge the role of race-based systemic oppression in climate change legislation. WELP, WE ALL GONNA DIE BY 2050... #NoLivesGonMatter
42. Insisting that shifting from rights to justice in the interest of centering racial equity into disability/women's/queer movements is "divisive".
43. Insisting that Black people that are a part of disability/women's/queer movements leave their race at the door in the spirit of "solidarity".
44. Tasking Black people with the grunt work of movement work and centering white people in leadership and decision making roles.
45. Creating diversity (sub)committees and "chair" positions as a performative DEI gesture in an organization.
46. Demonizing Black people, women especially, who point out systemic gaps in progressive/political/nonprofit/spiritual/”woke” spaces.
47. Assuming that making financial contributions to the ACLU does a damn thing for Black people.
48. Assuming that making financial contributions to *any* organization or entity that purports to do *anything* on behalf of Black people- especially if you are doing this because you are uncomfortable with giving money directly to Black individuals- absolves you of your role in the promulgation of white supremacy.
49. Being "pro" reparations- as long as said reparations do not entail actually giving money directly to Black individuals.
50. Operating as if your opinions about Black people have more gravitas than facts and lived experiences of Black people.
51. Attempting to spiritually bypass systemic oppression ("I'm transcending/ascending this and am not allowing it into my vibration")- and then turn around and belittle Black people for not being able to do the same.
52. Being silent when you observe a Black person experiencing racism- but then pulling them to the side and whispering to them "I'm on your side." GET FUCKED, OMG.
53. Making a big performative deal on social media about supporting a Black business or contributing to a Black candidate’s campaign fund.
54. Assembling a cohort of mostly white people to confront a Black colleague via email (“We think you should…”).
55. Engaging in #NotAllWhitePeople at any time, for any reason whatsoever.
56. Taking a Black person’s comments regarding systemic oppression personally.
57. Figuring out ways to sideline, silence, or otherwise punish Black people who confront the status quo and, therefore, inconvenience you.
58. Expecting the Black people that inhabit progressive/political/nonprofit/spiritual/”woke” spaces you inhabit to join you- gratefully- in maintaining the space’s status quo.
59. Tasking status quo Black people with the work of removing Black people who confront the status quo from the space.
60. Expecting a three hour “anti-racism” training to be the be all and end all racial equity work of your organization.
61. Expecting the three hour “anti-racism” training to be administered, gratefully, by a Black person for $300.
62. Using AAVE and playing hip hop music when leading exercise classes- and getting really irate when the inappropriateness of this is pointed out to you.
63. Using AAVE for any other reason, at any other time.
64. Demanding that a Black person tell you what “AAVE” is instead of Googling for yourself.
65. Noting your “intersections” in your email signature line (“Intersections: woman, poly, dryer sheet allergy” UGH), which totally trivializes the origin story for the term “intersectionality”.
66. Centering yourself when Black people are discussing anti-Blackness (“WELL, a Black girl was mean to me in middle school and THAT MUST BE WHAT SLAVERY FELT LIKE!”).
67. Dismissing observations articulated by Black people, only to turn around and embrace them when they are articulated by white and/or other non-Black people.
68. Not being totally disgusted with how white women co-opted #MeToo.
69. Not realizing, even after all these years, that white women co-opted #MeToo.
70. Feigning ignorance regarding how white women have co-opted the work of Black women in progressive/political/nonprofit/spiritual/”woke” spaces for generations now- yet insisting a superior grasp of how Black women have experienced this and how Black women should respond to this.
71. Expecting Black women to calmly and patiently educate you at your command on how you oppress them.
72. Operating as if your spending habits absolve you of any accountability regarding your role in the promulgation of white supremacy.
73. Viewing adverse dynamics between the white and Black people in the progressive/political/nonprofit/spiritual/”woke” spaces you inhabit as “conflict” and not “systemic oppression in action”.
74. Appointing yourself as an “ally” and making unreasonable demands upon Black people that they must meet, lest they risk losing your “allyship”.
75. Viewing your choosing to not vote/vote 3rd party as some kind of heroic gesture.
76. Attempting to equate your experience as a disabled/queer/trans/non-binary/woman to that of being a Black person when you’ve been caught engaging in racist behavior.
77. Staying silent when the leaders in the spaces you inhabit are racist pieces of shit because you don’t want to mess up your career and/or social standing.
78. Engaging in fierce social justice activism everywhere- except for your place of employment because you don’t want to mess up your career and/or social standing.
79. Not using your privilege to demand that lawmakers DO BETTER.
80. Demanding that Black people expect the bare minimum from you- and be grateful for whatever that is.
81. Foaming at the mouth about how you think Black people you’ll never meet in real life should vote- but not bringing that same energy to the white people closest to you in your life.
82. Refusing to recognize that “The Handmaid’s Tale” isn’t dystopian fiction- not for Black and other racially marginalized people, it isn’t.
83. Entertaining conversations about racist violence being a result of mental illness.
84. Only being progressive to the point where your own needs are met.
85. Appropriating Black protest imagery for your own purposes (“taking a knee for reproductive rights”, etc) and getting really shitty when Black people balk.
86. A grotesque inability to apologize like a mature adult when you cause harm to a Black person.
87. Demonizing Black people who do not share your views on politics.
88. Thinking that “Vote Blue No Matter Who” makes you superior to your white conservative kin.
89. Sabotaging conversations on racism that veer from the overt (cross burnings) to the covert (only allowing Black people who don’t challenge you to exist in the spaces you inhabit).
90. Pitting Black and other racially marginalized people against the Black people who you are intimidated by.
91. Trying to be “friends” with everyone- including known racist abusers.
92. You, a white person, having the final say on what “Good Trouble” is going to look like (“Good trouble” is a phrase coined by civil rights icon and Congressman John Lewis, a Black man).
93. Thinking that your performative gestures are monumental acts of kindness to be lauded: wearing all white on election day, changing the frame on your Facebook profile picture, sticking a safety pin up your ass, etc).
94. You, a Yankee urban gentrifying white lady who lives in the same neighborhood your racist white great grandparents white flighted from 80 years ago, looking down on “the South” and writing it all off as a “lost cause” full of “rednecks”.
95. Using your power and influence to engage in transactional dynamics with the Black people that orbit your life: because of marginalization (and, yes, at times, opportunism), they need to proximity to you to advance and, you, in turn, need them for photo opportunities to prove you aren’t the racist cow that everyone knows that you are.
95. Advising Black candidates for office to use cartoons of themselves in their marketing materials as opposed to their actual likenesses… to enhance “likeability”.
96. Inviting Black people to coffee to “pick” their brains about “the Black voters”, thus forcing them into a one-hour unpaid consultation where they supply you with feedback you are just going to dismiss, anyhow.
97. Insisting that you don’t know what white privilege is, but using it every single day of your life to gain advance yourself.
98. Crying “But what about women/disabled people/queers/Jews” whenever Black people are discussing racism in the progressive/political/nonprofit/spiritual/”woke” spaces you inhabit.
99. Celebrating the passage of the 19th amendment as a win for “women”.
100. Celebrating the passage of Roe V. Wade as a win for “women”.
101. Living in fear that the unimaginable is about to happen to you: you’re about to be treated like Black women have been treated for generations now, in spite of all of the advancements that “women” have enjoyed over the past 100 years and, instead of considering finally working in solidarity with Black and other racially marginalized women, working instead to ensure that your comfort is disturbed as little as possible.
This list is not exhaustive.
Not even close.
