- Banned
- #21
Some just can't be pleased
The Nation’s Elie Mystal is one of the country’s most widely read journalists. He recently wrote: “[O]ne of the principal benefits of the pandemic is how I’ve been able to exclude racism and whiteness generally from my day-to-day life.” Though he occasionally must worry about white people “on Zoom,” the good news is that “white people aren’t in my face all the time.” Instead, he lives in what he calls a “technically advanced, globally isolated” version of “Wakanda” where he “can pick and choose when and how often to interact with white people.”
Professor Mystal enjoys a lucrative career complaining about white people. Even though the leading institutions in our society in academia (Harvard and Harvard Law), journalism (the New York Times), and media (MSNBC and Fox News) have all given him a platform, he still seems to believe he is oppressed by “systemic racism.” If he truly does feel oppressed even after receiving all these benefits, what more can we do?
“I’m not ready to go back to accepting that, in a diverse and pluralistic society, some white people are allowed to just impose their implicit biases on the world, and the rest of us have to suck it up,” he said in his recent column. The basis for this sweeping conclusion was an incident he witnessed at a CVS. An older white woman pulled up to the store and shouted at a black teenaged girl, “Is this where you get the vaccines?” It’s not clear from the story whether the black girl worked at the store.
What do you say Mr. Mystal? Name your terms. Let’s realize Marcus Garvey’s dream. You’ll never have to worry about putting on your “white people armor” again. You can always be the “default” skin color. You can have your Wakanda. Of course, it will also mean you no longer have us to blame. Let’s see if you really want to be free, or whether you just want to be paid to complain about us.
The Nation’s Elie Mystal is one of the country’s most widely read journalists. He recently wrote: “[O]ne of the principal benefits of the pandemic is how I’ve been able to exclude racism and whiteness generally from my day-to-day life.” Though he occasionally must worry about white people “on Zoom,” the good news is that “white people aren’t in my face all the time.” Instead, he lives in what he calls a “technically advanced, globally isolated” version of “Wakanda” where he “can pick and choose when and how often to interact with white people.”
snip
Professor Mystal enjoys a lucrative career complaining about white people. Even though the leading institutions in our society in academia (Harvard and Harvard Law), journalism (the New York Times), and media (MSNBC and Fox News) have all given him a platform, he still seems to believe he is oppressed by “systemic racism.” If he truly does feel oppressed even after receiving all these benefits, what more can we do?
“I’m not ready to go back to accepting that, in a diverse and pluralistic society, some white people are allowed to just impose their implicit biases on the world, and the rest of us have to suck it up,” he said in his recent column. The basis for this sweeping conclusion was an incident he witnessed at a CVS. An older white woman pulled up to the store and shouted at a black teenaged girl, “Is this where you get the vaccines?” It’s not clear from the story whether the black girl worked at the store.
What do you say Mr. Mystal? Name your terms. Let’s realize Marcus Garvey’s dream. You’ll never have to worry about putting on your “white people armor” again. You can always be the “default” skin color. You can have your Wakanda. Of course, it will also mean you no longer have us to blame. Let’s see if you really want to be free, or whether you just want to be paid to complain about us.
