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Whether it's erasing our identities into so-called colorblindness (eye roll) or demanding that we endure state violence peacefully and resist through "proper" channels, the white moderate's fear of rocking the boat leaves black folks and other people of color more vulnerable to attack.
Our hosts Wagatwe Wanjuki and Irna Landrum talk about the fabled white moderate, described by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as the biggest obstacle to black liberation. Consider this a "Do Better" episode.
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GET YOU A CHAMPION THAT CAN DO BOTH
Trevor Noah joked that Africa won the World Cup. French folks got heated and it sparked a debate on national identity and colorblindness. The French ambassador unironically whitesplained to Noah that French national identity has no color. He said this to a black South African man who miiiight know a little something about how race and nationality work. The players seem to like being African AF.
In a viral video, Trevor skewers the ambassador’s argument and asks an important question: Why can't they be both? I can't do it justice. Just watch for yourself.
Wagatwe and Irna discuss one peculiarity of colorblindness: how people only claim colorblindness for really successful black folks. In France (and the U.S. gets no pass!) there are African criminals and welfare recipients, but there are no African heroes. Heroes belong to all of us. Girl, bye!
"FIRST THE F*CK OF ALL ..."
Whew, boy! So y'all had a LOT to say about our Maxine Waters tribute! Shoutout to the new listeners and followers who reached out to support our call to f*ck civility and hold racists publicly accountable. In a #disspod first, we’re responding to some of the comments and feedback we heard.
Deep sigh. … Some of y'all will forever undermine resistance if it means making the architects of our oppression uncomfortable, because "something something stoop to their level something."
First the f*ck of all, folks really gotta chill with the false equivalence between creating policy that literally endangers lives, and being really pissed about said life-threatening policy. Second of all, stop letting right-wing bigots define our movements!
"White moderates are gonna moderate us to death."
Since our last episode, a whole lot of self-proclaimed allies have been doing this ally thing all wrong, like there’s a prize for remaining unflapped by white supremacists and refusing to shame them. We got a ton of comments, some we read on air, mostly along these lines:
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Let's not stoop to their level—I think you could probably hear my eyes roll.
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WE can’t be bullies—Let’s talk about how the righteous anger of black women standing up for themselves is often named as bullying. It’s a whole thing.
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Maxine Waters is calling for mobs!—I don't know who YOU kick it with, but the only time I was at a protest that ended in mob violence, white supremacists shot at my friends.
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Don't protest, VOTE!—Hi, have you met systemic voter suppression and election interference? Also, we just supposed to die in between election cycles, or nah?
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The MLK (or Gandhi) defense—“They didn't fight back and look! Rights!" Y'all know they died, right? MLK risked life and limb and people were beaten bloody largely so lukewarm white moderates might get off their asses to actually DO something. You want that to be your legacy?
PUBLIC SHAMING GETS RESULTS
Wagatwe and Irna list a Where Are They Now of racist assholes who lost businesses (and another one), got ejected from entire CONTINENTS, lost book deals and are now hawking supplements. Turns out, holding racists publicly accountable works!
If people want to terrorize black and brown folks, they should not be able to do so comfortably.
And that's a wrap. Please subscribe on iTunes and leave a comment. Thanks for joining us!
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Want to hear more?
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Use the hashtag #disspod to share your thoughts!
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Hosts: Wagatwe Wanjuki, Irna Landrum
Producers: Aaron Rand Freeman, Monique Teal
Music: MannMade Music & Visuals