Posted on 06/08/2020 8:50:08 AM PDT by Kaslin
If Americans want to know where to start helping their fellow citizens in need, the answer is not far away. They only have to put away their devices long enough to see it.
#BlackoutTuesday on June 2 was a case study in performance solidarity gone wrong, writes Washington Post columnist Karen Attiah. “Why would a silent black square, with no black people in it, qualify as activism messaging?” she asks. “Many white people expressed that they just didn’t know what to do, they were petrified of posting the wrong thing, and this seemed like the best way to thread the needle,” she further notes. But I’d offer there’s a deeper dynamic at work: Americans have convinced themselves that participation in social media activism absolves them from the hard work of authentic civic responsibility.
Attiah, who is black, writes of her frustration with these zealous social-media warriors:
Black people and other activists also had to spend time dealing with messages from distraught white and non-black friends who were overwhelmed with guilt and anxiety at the thought that they had stumbled and fallen while taking their first baby steps toward making a stand for social justice.
Many of us realize we will be asked to spend untold amounts of emotional labor trying to guide, teach, soothe white people in these moments.
Though I’m a white conservative, suspicious of the 1619 Project and data-ignorant claims regarding supposed systemic racist police brutality, and though Attiah’s “woe is me, mentoring those over-sensitive white people” sermonizing is silly and overwrought, I can appreciate her annoyance. Her words accurately describe many of the pseudo-activist posts that have populated my Facebook thread since George Floyd was killed May 25.
Deep within the American psyche is a distractibility that is eager for quick fixes. “The habit of inattention is to be regarded as the greatest defect of the democratic character,” noted French statesman Alexis de Tocqueville in his pivotal 1835 book “Democracy in America.” Social media aggravates this tendency, both because of the accelerated pace of content and because the forum is literally addicting, as numerous books and studies are demonstrating.
The social media post requires little intellectual reflection and even less labor. A “social media warrior” can rattle off Twitter posts expressing solidarity with Black Lives Matter from the safety of his home or while standing in line at Starbucks. One can simply repost what some other person has published and feel that calming, self-congratulatory sense of having done something. Like the absurd song “We’ve Got to Do Something” from the 2008 film “Forgetting Sarah Marshall,” it doesn’t really matter what the “something” is.
These token gestures can actually be inimical to democracy because they create a veneer of civic engagement that is both superficial and narcissistic. “I’m not racist or part of the problem, look what I did on Facebook,” the social media warrior asserts. In its performative demonstration of corrective and constructive, penitential acts, it promotes a political dynamic that allows the person posting to leave unexamined and untouched his or her real civic duties.
Whatever one thinks of the specific debates regarding police tactics or allegations of institutional and systemic racism, it’s obvious there is a significant, shameless disparity between blacks and whites in America. Remedying that requires more than self-comforting public gestures expressing solidarity with the black community or BLM protesters.
I agree with former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who in a June 4 Washington Post op-ed argues that educational opportunities are “a partial shield against prejudice.” They may not be a perfect shield, but they “give people a fighting chance.”
This is especially the case when the proportion of black children raised in single-parent families is 65 percent, more than double the number of white children. As University of Virginia sociologist W. Bradford Wilcox has often argued, family instability is a direct contributor to child poverty.
As a former educator and high-school athletic coach, I’ve been involved in tutoring, mentoring, teaching, and coaching children in underprivileged, minority communities across Virginia — in Fairfax, Lorton, Charlottesville, and the Gum Springs neighborhood of Alexandria, where in July 2019, gunmen opened fire on high school students at a playground.
Many of the children I taught, mentored, or coached came from broken homes, often with no identifiable father figure. Sometimes it was hard to keep track of them when parents didn’t pay the phone bill. Such kids can be emotionally distant and distrustful of authorities, making mentorship no easy task.
One elementary school-aged black student I tutored for three years in Charlottesville was suspended for fighting. Another high school-aged first-generation South Asian kid I tutored for two years in Fairfax was expelled for drug possession. In both cases, much of the problem stemmed from bad-influence peers. And in both circumstances, the continued presence of mentors in their lives, especially amid their failures, was critical to helping them persevere personally and academically. Such investment is needed now more than ever, when the percentage of Americans who donate to charity or volunteer is at historic lows.
Americans can debate what the nation needs to right the wrongs of various social, racial, or economic injustice. What isn’t up for debate are some of the simplest, most straightforward ways citizens can help people in underprivileged communities — mentoring, tutoring, or volunteering at secular or religious community centers. My local mentoring and tutoring organization, for example, never has enough volunteers.
If Americans want to know where to start helping their fellow citizens in need, the answer is not far away. They only have to put away their devices long enough to see it.
“ Black people and other activists also had to spend time dealing with messages from distraught white and non-black friends who were overwhelmed with guilt and anxiety at the thought that they had stumbled and fallen while taking their first baby steps toward making a stand for social justice.“
Any white person that falls for this nonsense deserves exactly what they get.
Overwhelmed with guilt?
Morons.
It’s awful convenient timing for Obammy as he was being revealed for the snake he is .. anything to prevent the truth from emerging of how dirty and deceptive he and many more have been for years.
Publix Grocery announces it is donating $1M to civil rights orgs. Announced this with their weekly ad promo flyer just a click away. What is Publix promoting this week? Can't make this stuff up.
Priceless...I have a caregiver for my husband and since I’m NOT ALLOWED to go to the store (Publix), I have her do the weekly shopping. Guess what race? I wouldn’t know how to tell her I want her to go to Kroger (only other market available nearby) now instead..but I’m going to assume that Kroger is going along with the crowd. Isn’t everyone? Bing search engine is also so no more Bing for me...
I got the email announcing their support for RIOTERS from Publix because I also order delivery if the caregiver doesn’t shop for me. I didn’t know so many people were without spines in this country. Guess we’ll find out soon enough just how many and how far it’s going to go.
This latest Publix virtue signaling along with pandering fried chicken and watermelon promos is ludicrous.
Why aren’t you allowed to go to the grocery store, if you don’t mind me asking? I thought grocery stores are essential in every state.
Or for anything.
Unbelievable pandering...look what I found on the Publix website today. We've been shopping at other grocery stores lately because Publix prices have gone through the roof, and Publix isn't keeping shelves stocked. Between the local Amish Farmer's Market, Butcher Shop, Aldi, Winn Dixie and others, we're not missing Publix much over the past three months.
“”Why aren’t you allowed to go to the grocery store, if you don’t mind me asking? I thought grocery stores are essential in every state.””
I’m elderly and considered high risk with COPD so apparently I’m to sit in my rocking chair - after I wash the car and the pollen off the porch and outside furniture.
Whoa...I’d missed that. I guess I always thought Publix would stay out of foolishness until the school shooting in Broward.
I am really disappointed- I hate pandering. I don’t know how I’d feel if I were a black Publix shopper- but it seems so patronizing. And is spreading faster than coronavirus.
I’m curious to know which civil rights program(s) Publix intends to enrich with $1 million.
I have to say one of the *few* things I don't like about FL vs. up here is we have far more big box supermarkets / medium and small markets to choose from (ie if you want to boycott Publix over this). From what I've seen in FL, it's almost all Publix, Winn-Dixie and maybe Aldi. Granted, many of the newer Publix stores we've visited are awesome... filled with everything you could desire.
But, then again -- don't feel left out, lol -- some of our big supermarket chains up here have enthusiastically promoted the same race crap: Stop & Shop is top of mind at the moment. I'm sure there are others. I only get about 3 store ads a week, so I haven't seen all of the various supermarket ads.
I mostly shop in a medium-sized family-owned "super" market 10 minutes from home. So far, I haven't seen any SJW crap in their store ads.
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