It’s very seductive, thinking that you’re the only person who can see the real, empathic person under the dehumanizing warning label
Story a prof of mine told:
There was white man with some very serious mental health problems who lived in a group home, of which she was involved somewhere in the management chain. Said white man with a major mental illness, who was in his 50s, had made quite a problem of himself by being really, really racist. In particular, he used being racism to drive off roommates and argue he had a right not to have to room with one of those people. The staff were in a quandry, because they certainly didn't want any of the residents who were people of color to have to deal with this guy, but it meant he got his way by being abusive and racist and nobody was really happy with that.
One day, one of the staff in the residence who was, himself, black, said at staff meeting that he's had a hopeful interaction with this racist white guy. He said that the guy had stopped being so hostile to him, and they even had some reasonable conversation, and then the white guy said to him that he liked him, that he (the black staff member) was an okay guy, not like all those other n----rs, that he was the very first black person he felt safe around and like he could trust. So he'd been cultivating a relationship with white racist dude, in the hopes of broadening his mind, and was really hoping to get somewhere with him.
The prof then asked everybody in staff meeting whom the white racist had previously told was "you're the only black person I can trust" to raise their hands, and every black hand in the room went up.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2018-12-08 07:16 am (UTC)Story a prof of mine told:
There was white man with some very serious mental health problems who lived in a group home, of which she was involved somewhere in the management chain. Said white man with a major mental illness, who was in his 50s, had made quite a problem of himself by being really, really racist. In particular, he used being racism to drive off roommates and argue he had a right not to have to room with one of those people. The staff were in a quandry, because they certainly didn't want any of the residents who were people of color to have to deal with this guy, but it meant he got his way by being abusive and racist and nobody was really happy with that.
One day, one of the staff in the residence who was, himself, black, said at staff meeting that he's had a hopeful interaction with this racist white guy. He said that the guy had stopped being so hostile to him, and they even had some reasonable conversation, and then the white guy said to him that he liked him, that he (the black staff member) was an okay guy, not like all those other n----rs, that he was the very first black person he felt safe around and like he could trust. So he'd been cultivating a relationship with white racist dude, in the hopes of broadening his mind, and was really hoping to get somewhere with him.
The prof then asked everybody in staff meeting whom the white racist had previously told was "you're the only black person I can trust" to raise their hands, and every black hand in the room went up.