Not All...
In lieu of the Friday news links, I'm going to share with you a Twitter thread that went viral the other day:
1. I can always appreciate a genuine inquiry regarding #NotAllWhitePeople & #NotAllMen; join me as I take a more creative route to explain. https://t.co/fxzZJTrn6U— Adrian C. Jackson (@AdrianCJax) August 23, 2017
2. Imaging 13 kids (weird number, I know, but it'll make sense soon enough): 10 of them wear white t-shirts; 3 of them, brown tees.— Adrian C. Jackson (@AdrianCJax) August 23, 2017
3. Everyday, the "white tee" kids get to leave class early to attend lunch ahead of everyone else; the "brown tee" kids follow afterwards.— Adrian C. Jackson (@AdrianCJax) August 23, 2017
4. Unfortunately, like clockwork, the 3 brown tee kids are bullied by 6 of the 10 white tee kids waiting for them & steal their lunch money.— Adrian C. Jackson (@AdrianCJax) August 23, 2017
5. So, naturally, the brown tee kids are upset and alert the teacher: "Hey, those white tee kids keep stealing our lunch money every day!”— Adrian C. Jackson (@AdrianCJax) August 23, 2017
6. Now, the 4 other white tee kids who aren't bullies -- in fact, they dislike the 6 white tee bullies -- are upset at what they hear…BUT…— Adrian C. Jackson (@AdrianCJax) August 23, 2017
7. they target their frustration not towards the bullies…but at the brown tee kids: "Hey, hey, hey…Not ALL white tee kids stole your money!"— Adrian C. Jackson (@AdrianCJax) August 23, 2017
8. And the pattern continues: 6 white tees bullied 3 browns…the brown tees address their frustration…the 4 white tees snap at brown tees.— Adrian C. Jackson (@AdrianCJax) August 23, 2017
9. Now, if one had an ounce of empathy, you would ask yourself, "Wait…if 4 of the white tee kids hate bullying, why snap at the victims?…"— Adrian C. Jackson (@AdrianCJax) August 23, 2017
10. "…Obviously, the 6 bullies are gonna continue stealing the brown tee kids' lunch money until someone intervenes and helps."— Adrian C. Jackson (@AdrianCJax) August 23, 2017
11. Now, if you haven't reached this thought, well…fuck you very much, you selfish, apathetic, inconsiderate scumbucket of a species…— Adrian C. Jackson (@AdrianCJax) August 23, 2017
12. …but if you have, CONGRATULATIONS! You've now grasp the underlying frustration behind the phrases #NotAllWhitePeople & #NotAllMen.— Adrian C. Jackson (@AdrianCJax) August 23, 2017
13. Essentially, by repeating these infuriating themes, you're attempting to devoid yourself of any & all responsibility to fix the matter.— Adrian C. Jackson (@AdrianCJax) August 23, 2017
14. The 3 brown tee kids ALREADY know that NOT ALL 10 white tees stole their money, but guess what…it was STILL white tees & ENOUGH of them!— Adrian C. Jackson (@AdrianCJax) August 23, 2017
15. And not just enough of them…a MAJORITY of them! 6 out of 10!— Adrian C. Jackson (@AdrianCJax) August 23, 2017
16. So now, you're thinking: "Well, what possibly could those other 4 white tee kids do to resolve the issue? There's only 4 of them!"— Adrian C. Jackson (@AdrianCJax) August 23, 2017
17. Well…let's play that out, shall we?— Adrian C. Jackson (@AdrianCJax) August 23, 2017
18. So one day, the 4 white tee kids had a meeting: "Say, since we don't like bullying so much, why don't we team up with the 3 brown tees?"— Adrian C. Jackson (@AdrianCJax) August 23, 2017
19. So they went to the 3 brown tees to ask how they can help; all 3 of them said, "Well, 6 of them always bullies us on our way to lunch."— Adrian C. Jackson (@AdrianCJax) August 23, 2017
20. So the next day, the 6 white tee bullies left early for lunch, as usual, but something was different today…— Adrian C. Jackson (@AdrianCJax) August 23, 2017
21. Today, 4 of white tees stayed behind and walked with the 3 brown tees to lunch, & when the 6 bullies saw the 7 ALLIES, they backed off!— Adrian C. Jackson (@AdrianCJax) August 23, 2017
22. And the Allied 7 went even further: they confronted the 6 bullies TOGETHER to find out why they engaged in bullying in the first place.— Adrian C. Jackson (@AdrianCJax) August 23, 2017
23. Turns out, the bullies didn't have enough to eat & thought stealing from others was the only way to go, b/c they were taught that lie.— Adrian C. Jackson (@AdrianCJax) August 23, 2017
24. To which the Allied 7 had a simple solution: If they had enough to spare, share what they had with the others, as long as EVERYONE ate!— Adrian C. Jackson (@AdrianCJax) August 23, 2017
25. But that outcome would have never happened if the 4 white tee kids never bothered to SHUT UP, LISTEN, & ALIGN with the marginalized!— Adrian C. Jackson (@AdrianCJax) August 23, 2017
26. So, now that you know the harms of empty statements like #NotAllWhitePeople & #NotAllMen, how can this be applied in the real world?— Adrian C. Jackson (@AdrianCJax) August 23, 2017
27. Well, the 3 step process was previously mentioned:A. Shut UpB. ListenC. Align
— Adrian C. Jackson (@AdrianCJax) August 23, 2017
28. A. SHUT UP: Eliminate #NotAll(Anything) from your lexicon. You now know those are empty statements with no positive impact for change.— Adrian C. Jackson (@AdrianCJax) August 23, 2017
29. Also, refrain from any & all forms of 'splaining (man-splaining, white-splaining, etc.); that is just as terrible, if not worse.— Adrian C. Jackson (@AdrianCJax) August 23, 2017
30. B. LISTEN: Marginalized groups have real issues that affect them that you know very little or nothing about.— Adrian C. Jackson (@AdrianCJax) August 23, 2017
31. PoC (esp. Blacks) deal w/ systematic & institutional racism. Women deal w/ systematic & institutional misogyny & prevalent rape culture.— Adrian C. Jackson (@AdrianCJax) August 23, 2017
32. If you are white and/or male, you know absolutely nothing about these issues -- lemme repeat…👏🏾AB👏🏾SO👏🏾LUTE👏🏾LY 👏🏾NO👏🏾THING…— Adrian C. Jackson (@AdrianCJax) August 23, 2017
33. So to best learn: Listen. Engage. Ask GENUINE questions (not passive aggressive ones). And most importantly, Accept & Adopt*.— Adrian C. Jackson (@AdrianCJax) August 23, 2017
34. *there will be some who try to feed you bullshit…that's why we're here, to help you filter out the facts from the full-o-shit.— Adrian C. Jackson (@AdrianCJax) August 23, 2017
35. C. ALIGN: This. Is. Paramount. You can hold your tongue all you want. You can listen til the cows come home…they're nothing w/o action!— Adrian C. Jackson (@AdrianCJax) August 23, 2017
36. You saw how the 4 white tee kids in the Allied 7 addressed the 6 bullies? That's what WE need from YOU…— Adrian C. Jackson (@AdrianCJax) August 23, 2017
37. Got racist relatives, friends, or co-workers? Don't let them off the hook! Got a boyfriend who's low-key sexist? Call his ass out!— Adrian C. Jackson (@AdrianCJax) August 23, 2017
38. 'Cause here's a little secret: YOU (white and/or male person) have FAR MORE INFLUENCE over your peers than we do!— Adrian C. Jackson (@AdrianCJax) August 23, 2017
39. They couldn't care less about our thoughts, situations, or lives, for that matter. They do, however, care about what YOU think of them.— Adrian C. Jackson (@AdrianCJax) August 23, 2017
40. So use that power & influence to steer them from their bigoted ways.You. Have. To. Step. Up. To. Achieve. Significant. Change.
— Adrian C. Jackson (@AdrianCJax) August 23, 2017
41. So, now that you're fully enlightened about the pitfalls of #NotAll'ing, the onus is upon you to implement this knowledge moving forward— Adrian C. Jackson (@AdrianCJax) August 23, 2017
42. Be a better ally. Become a Champion for others. Don't desire praise or recognition, but strive for progress & purpose.We. Got. This.✊🏾
— Adrian C. Jackson (@AdrianCJax) August 23, 2017
It's up to all of us. #Resist
Good thoughts but with some faulty logic at places.
ReplyDeleteMost bullies don't bully because they don't have enough; they bully because they bully.
Just like most shoplifters don't -need- to shoplift.
Good point. I think the idea of the thread, though, was to demonstrate how we're stronger together allying with people of color rather than remaining silent. But true, they bully because they are so small and fearful that they feel like the only way to project strength is to pick on someone else.
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