Stand Your Ground Post-Jordan Davis Michael Dunn Colorblind Racist Talking Points: Are 'Big White Men' 'Stereotyped' in the Same Way as 'African-Americans'?

Colorblind racism is marked by false equivalences and lazy thinking which attempts to collapse the particular experiences of black and brown people with white supremacy into a huge and ill defined morass that includes "unfairness" and "prejudice" as experiences had by all groups and individuals in the same way.

In all, one of the consensus bargains of post civil rights America was that to begin acknowledging white racism and white supremacy as central and defining facts of American history meant that fictions of anti-white "discrimination" and "reverse racism" must also be acknowledged as real. Black justice claims were marginally granted. Manufactured fantasies of white racial disadvantage were part of that bargain.

When a person of color--African-Americans in particular--is a clear victim of white racism the natural defense for many white folks is to suggest that "race doesn't matter" and "such things happen to me too". The first deflection is oriented at invalidating and undermining the humanity and lived experiences of people of color. The second claim is based on a false type of empathy, one with the ultimate goal of trumping our experiences with a smothering blanket of white privilege. 

Together, the two scripts generate the following narrative. Black and brown folks are overly sensitive, did not experience what we thought we did, and if some type of white racism was operative, we are exaggerating it somehow and ought to learn how to deal with white people's "logical" and "rational" fears of, and biases towards, us.

As Americans (and others) try to sort out the bizarre verdict in the Michael Dunn-Jordan Davis trial and how "Stand Your Ground Laws" are a de facto license for white folks to shoot and kill black people at will, the strategy of using false empathy as a means of deflecting conversations about white supremacy will be in full play. 

Here is one such example. Do you think this is a white racist troll who is developing a new talking point online script? Or is this a sincere person who is unaware of how racist and absurd his supposed story of black "racism" sounds? 

I tend towards the former.

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If I don't shave or shower or I dress scruffy, I get very negative reactions from people publicly that somewhat mirror the author's anecdotes. However, if I merely do those things, voila, no problem. I am always aware of my size and maleness around women in situations where they might feel vulnerable. I use body language and maybe a shy polite smile to signal that I'm not a rapist and it goes a long way. The fact that I'm white is still the most profound identity marker about me in public interactions with strangers. I can think of a dozen situations just off the top of my head that would have gone badly for me if I simply hadn't been a white male. The author is a naval officer and professor and White House Fellow. That I should have some kind of advantage over a man like him in everyday public interactions should be astounding. But it's not: it's depressingly believable, isn't it?

I was in love with a beautiful dark skinned woman once. Her mother had been a Jet magazine model in her youth and my girlfriend was possibly even better looking.

There were three factors at play in the public reactions we got as a couple:

A) She was not only beautiful, she was frankly very sexy. Women of any race with large breasts are by very many men just assumed to be hyper-sexual.

B) She was black. That is to say, she was 1/4 Irish, 1/4 Cherokee, and 1/2 African American. She was neither very dark skinned nor very light skinned (I despise the term 'high yellow'), but she was not seen as multi-racial. Just black.

C) She was with me.

Occasionally, we'd run across just the sort of disgusted reactions from stereotypical redneck white people that you'd expect. Most white people politely stared or made an obvious point of not staring. Some of them got really nervous and way overcompensated with hyper friendliness. To a substantial number of white people, including my friends, there was no reaction to her being black--just her attractiveness. Somehow I was supposed to feel appreciated by their voiced approval of her good looks. Somehow. Because maybe if she was white they'd have correctly interpreted the look on my face as the beginnings of a jealous rage and stopped talking. I ended a few friendships.

The reactions of white people to a multiracial couple where the man is white were obliquely instructive at best of what people of color experience every day. They certainly told me nothing about what life would be like walking around as a black man.

But by far--and remember this isn't my opinion this is a reported observation--the most intolerable reactions in public we received were from young black and hispanic males. Not all young males from these groups behaved negatively towards us, of course. But the ones who did are seared into my memory.

I can't begin to relate how grossly improper, how in-my-face, how utterly debasing towards the humanity of myself and my girlfriend, were these reactions. Just remembering them now I'm beginning to shake with anger. I'm just recording my thoughts as I type here, and it would probably be appropriate for me to write specifically what happened during some of the worst of these encounters, but I find I can't do it. I should also say that the young black and hispanic men who knew me were all fine with our relationship. It was only strangers that we had problems with, and even then just a subset of those strangers.

I was in love with this woman. The kind of love that never really goes away. I lost her. There were a lot of reasons. We were young. I had some growing up to do emotionally before I was ready to understand the work a relationship requires. All the usual stuff. And then there was the pressure from all sides from people who didn't want to see a mixed race couple. We obviously didn't care about that pressure, and for the most part had no trouble ignoring it. But more than a few of those hispanic and black males got right in my f^kln6 face when we were together. She made it clear that if I ever followed my instincts in those situations, we'd be through as a couple. So I took it. I swallowed it down. And it ruined so many trips to the park, lunches and dinners, nights out. I don't blame those encounters for why I let one of the loves of my life slip through my fingers. But it added pressure to a situation that was already touch and go. I was on the cusp of learning how to uphold my end of a relationship. I was almost there. If we'd managed to stay together six more months, I might be telling you about our kids today.

Last I heard she was with some Hollywood directer. And before you get too impressed, the dude directs documentaries.

I doubt very many of the people who really need to consider how their ignorant behavior affects the lives of others are reading The Atlantic right now anyway. I started this post thinking I had a point of view about public reactions in America to immutable aspects of identity that would be worth sharing. Now I don't know if all I've done here is wallow in an old hurt.