For People Who Are Not Racist —
if racism is a mental disorder im fucking retarded — Twitter user @_ozark_
For the past fifty or so years, the common response to politicians saying they’re against racism is indifference. It’s a nothing platitude that nobody bats an eye at because, all things considered, it really doesn’t mean anything.
At worst, some people would react like they’re being talked down to. Of course you’re not racist, of course I’m not racist, of course the vast majority of Americans are in no way racist. However, the vast majority of Americans took “racism is bad,” the say way they took phrases like “God Bless America.” A verbal tic used by politicians and major figures at the end of speeches.
However, over the past many years, this simple statement has become more and more controversial.
I recall after the death of George Floyd, various corporations posted basic press statements condemning racism. When I saw these, I paid them no mind and moved on — the only reason they even showed up on my Twitter timeline is because some of the people I followed insisted on quote tweeting these basic statements to get mad at them.
Why don’t I care about these statements? To put it simply, because I’m not racist — you can ask me if I’m racist as many times as you want, I’ll always make sure to answer no.
To give a comparison, if these same companies were to post statements against children being molested, and someone were to get angry about that, that would seem quite odd. Yet, Twitter account after Twitter account spends its days oddly raging at people who promise you they are not racist.
One Twitter account, simply called @WokeCapital, has spent the past two years complaining about companies making limp-handed statements condemning bigotry. On 6/15/2020, when many companies recognized it as the anniversary of Juneteenth, this man dedicated twenty tweets to documenting it, all with the caption “We’ve always celebrated Juneteenth as a national holiday, Winston.” (As if a historical event needs to be celebrated as a national holiday for companies to recognize it on Twitter? For that matter, as if recognizing it this year means you’re claiming you recognized it every year beforehand? God, this man is a drama queen.)
What’s funniest about this claim is that many of these same people are willing to accuse someone else of racism over the smallest thing. You might remember Candace Owens saying the following after Biden’s “you ain’t Black” comments:
REMINDER BLACK PEOPLE: If you don’t do the bidding for wealthy white Democrats “YOU AIN’T BLACK”. Just IMAGINE the media reaction if @realDonaldTrump said this to a black person that asked questions about his policies? Or if Trump said “ain’t” when speaking to black people?
(For the record: The word “ain’t” entered common discourse after being used by wealthy White people in the United Kingdom.)
How about when Senator Dick Durban was called racist for saying Tim Scott’s police reform bill was a “token effort,” despite token never once being considered a racial slur and in spite of the fact everyone support Tim Scott’s bill besides Tim Scott is white?
These people expect the accusation of racist to stick because it sticks so well to them. What they always fail to realize is why that accusation is such a big deal to them — it reveals something about them that they don’t like.
