It becomes exhausting to read comments like, “ ... you should take a hint from white people on how to deal with bigotry,” or “... blacks complain too much,” and “Gay people need to quiet down.” As someone who bridges the gap between agent and target groups, garnering all the privilege of race and gender but none concerning sexuality, I find myself at odds with my white and heterosexual friends. I am told that I either have a chip on my shoulder or that my struggle is nothing compared to that of black Americans. It leads me to wonder, why are white people so blind to privilege, and why do heterosexuals refuse to close ranks with the LGBT community?
The most obnoxious comment made by heterosexuals is the one concerning gay activism. The claim is that if gays weren’t so loud and obstreperous about their civil rights and discrimination, heterosexuals wouldn’t feel the need to be so invidious. Interesting claim — especially when one considers the climate of America for the LGBT community sixty years ago. This was a time when the terms “pedophile” and “homosexual” were synonymous and videos were shown to students to teach them how to avoid “transients” such as vagrant gay men. And despite what science has debunked, such as the myth of the prevalent homosexual pedophile, we still find accredited universities such as Liberty teaching scores of students that gays, as a community, rarely experience legitimate relationships and women still need to submit to the will of their husbands. All of this is backed by the Bible, of course.
On the other end of the spectrum, this frightening and bizarre denial of racism at Virginia Tech forces me to ponder what the experiences of my white counterparts have been abroad in America. I have witnessed comment after comment stating that racism is near its death and that black Americans are the true racists. Or even worse, “Black people use the N-word, why can’t we?” — as though somehow, if one group of people is doing something, it is a complete justification for another group to follow in its steps. I suppose that was the rationale for slavery at the time. Wasn’t everyone doing it?
People confuse anger with racism. I also believe that communities as well-bonded as that of black Americans irk white people. All groups in power find themselves disturbed by the notion that those they have been stepping on are gaining agency. It is the same reason heterosexuals have become so nervous about the rising voice of LGBT people. The clarion call of an empowered group concerned for its majority is one in which comfiture is involved. This group or that group is making things uncomfortable for said crowd in power.
Women, for example, are often the scapegoat for male lust. Phrases such as, “She was asking for it,” and “Well, look at how she was dressed,” say enough as it is. When you can’t wear a skirt without conjectures of your promiscuity arising, there is a problem.
Reticent homophobes jump on the opportunity to comment on the strident nature of today’s gays, stating all too unanimously that “they make things/us” uncomfortable or that “a little discretion would go a long way.”
Ethnic minorities never fail to have foisted upon them the title of victim when a complaint of race is made, all the while being told by one person or another what a credit to their race they are. Forever marginalized to their racial identity and never a consummate human being, it can sometimes seem the only people allowed to have a multi-spectrum identity are white people.
I find the social ills of bigotry everywhere. Just this last summer I was using the restroom of a movie theater and someone washing their hands next to me asked me if I thought the (insert any number of racial slurs for black people) were being too loud. I realized he had assumed a kind of camaraderie with me based on our white heritage, and that I therefore shared his racist values. Needless to say I made for the exit. Recent events on campus are more telling, such as white boards in residence halls that are commonly drawn with not only racist terminology, but a variety of homophobic and sexist commentary as well.
The issue of politically correct speech has become a growing one in this country, and I find the only people against it are often white and heterosexual — though it is little wonder when one ruminates on the matter. With the power and representation white people enjoy in this country, there is little reason that strongly pejorative terms would have developed for their group. Though some would claim, as one such anonymous white person did in a comment on the Collegiate Times Web site, that white people “don’t allow themselves to be offended by such commentary,” I have to wonder if these people have ever considered the fact that maybe it is because no words truly denigrate white identities. The historical context of the N-word and the vehemence of the word “faggot” make them particularly nasty monikers when handled negatively. In fact, the word “faggot” cannot even be used positively since no affirmative connotation for it exists.
When people claim that words are no big deal I quirk an eyebrow, because if such a statement were true, the Nobel Prize for Literature wouldn’t exist and language — words being the unit by which it is measured — would be utterly meaningless. Such slanted wisdom is professed by those who have never experienced harassment at the hands of a word, stripping you of your humanity and reducing you to a stereotype.
We live in a country that, despite the best professional advice of the American Psychiatric Association, allows Christian institutions to perform reversion therapy instead of solving world hunger and homelessness. How can anyone, with the climate that exists today, make the claim that bigotry is a dying attitude?
Often times when I am speaking to someone who denies privilege I ask if they have taken a women studies course. The usual answer is no, but despite having never experienced such a class the general feeling is that it is one that bashes both whites and men. As someone who has taken two classes and is both white and male, I can say that is not the case.
The call here is not that white people and heterosexuals throw their hands up in apology and surrender but that we recognize the privilege of our identities and work against such unmerited benefits. Men recognize the power they have over women just as heterosexuals and white people need to recognize heterosexism and white privilege. As a nation we need to realize that when one person’s rights are threatened, all of ours are on the chopping block. Instead of pointing the finger where it doesn’t belong, accountability and responsibility need to be the name of the game.
Only through this kind of shared recognition and cooperation will any greater understanding of America’s social dynamics be had. When we can do this, a resolution will be fast in acting and maybe then such identities as “black” or “gay” will no longer define an entire human being.
