The Liberals Who Cried Black Lives Matter

TL;DR – That one time when white liberals tried their hand at Social Justice in the Summer of 2020 and wound up virtue signalers who realized they liked their white privilege just the way it is.

In the pandemic-riddled summer of 2020, we saw an unprecedented number of protests following the murder of George Floyd. The blatant execution of an unarmed black man seemed to galvanize a nation that, characteristically, ignored the very real terrorization of black people at the hands of law enforcement. The outrage of this heinous use of excessive force, saw white liberal Americans across the country, emerging from what could only be described as a long, self-imposed, star-spangled coma. Meanwhile, we black people found ourselves in the unfamiliar territory, of finally feeling understood regarding our American experience, by our white counterparts. What we didn’t realize at the time, that we would later come to regret, was that white liberals were merely setting us up for their next trick. This brings us to virtue signaling.

Radical Words

The long and short of it is, virtue signaling is when your well-meaning words are betrayed by your actions. It’s a phenomena that white liberals have used for time immemorial but taken into overdrive, almost overnight, during the 2020 BLM protests that summer. Remember how droves of white people were marching in lockstep with our fellow black brothers and sisters chanting “Black Lives Matter,” and “No Justice, No Peace” in unison? Remember how white people were posting on social media platforms how they were “educating” themselves about race, racism and how they impact that dynamic as it pertained to black people?

At-long-last, the time of disproportionate justice, profiling, second-class citizenship, police brutality and hosts of other systemic handicaps, were going to meet their overdue and much-deserved end. Then…It all happened so fast… so suddenly… and once black people realized what was really happening, it was too late. Or, as Malcolm would have said to us, “…you’ve been had.”

Radical Inaction

It started well enough. White people doing a lot of listening and less talking…… for once. Recommending black businesses to patron and racist businesses to boycott. Taking pictures with their black co-workers, who they never talked to before. Posting funny snapshots of racist whites getting “owned” — as they say — by other whites who aren’t “sitting on the sidelines about racism, anymore,” and a host of other perceived supportive, well-meaning words and acts.

The black friends, however, started to notice those black businesses they were posting to support, they’d never actually put their money where their proverbial mouth was and shopped there themselves. As a matter of fact, they continued to patron businesses that openly hung on their doors or posted in their storefront windows: “Blue Lives Matter,” “All Lives Matter,” “We Support our <Fill-in-the-blank> Police Dept.” signs.

The Invisibility Cloak

Also, those same black friends started to notice they were the ONLY black friend, and when they weren’t, there was a mixed race black friend present that was being referred to as “the best friend” unusually frequently. As if, they were trying to sell this friendship awfully hard. It’s in this moment, that the only person who would know what was ACTUALLY happening here is the ACTUAL black person.

See, the mixed-race black person is here for a couple reasons:

1. The white liberal can use the Black part of that person to “invisibility cloak” themselves and pull their see-I’m-not-racist-here’s-my-black-friend card.
2. The white liberal can also deploy the mixed-race black person to pander to their still-deeply-held beliefs.
   1. This allows for racially insensitive or inappropriate rhetoric because “well the ‘black’ person said it”

Just think, it was only a small sample of the white libs’ virtue signaling fruit basket and the summer had only just gotten started.

The “Well-Intentioned” Co-Opt

Weeks would pass and the BLM protests continued from state to state. All the while, liberals were starting to get the hang of this social justice “thing.” The more trust and confidence their black friends placed in them, the more froggy they leapt. Posts and pictures started turning into lengthy personal statements and recaps about what they’d been “learning” about race and racism and how much better an “ally” they feel they are now. It was here, when black people found themselves lulled to sleep and this would prove costly in the end.

Malcolm would have warned us that “…this is what they do” before telling us that we’d been hoodwinked.

You see, while we slapped the social snooze button on the alarm clock, we inadvertently gave these Social Justice Wanna-Bes the opening they needed to co-opt our cause. The liberals, in their new found sense of confidence, started speaking on our behalf about racial issues, complete with plans to find short term solutions, while striving for the ultimate goal of dismantling systemic racism. Many of us would see this manifested in our jobs as diversity training seminars, newly created Urban or Ethnic or “whatever-the-hell” diversity outreach committees and obvious affirmative action hires in departments commonly dominated by whites.

Eventually, these conversations — being led and orchestrated by whites with no input from black people — started to get intertwined with other issues, but namely the white supremacist stalwarts of LGBT+ issues and Feminist concerns. Whenever WE would find out that something was done without even being consulted and then call it out for things like: insensitivity and inappropriateness, subjugation of the real issues, or its complete irrelevance, we were met with the famous white victimhood, white tears if you’re lucky. Next, they’d regale us with how much work they’ve put in and how hard they’re trying to be a “good ally” because they realize how much they’ve been part of the problem. Now, all they want to focus on, is solutions. Sounds good in theory, but when all they “want to do is focus on solutions” at the expense of SILENCING black voices then, they may need to put on a stronger performance to convince black folks they’re an ACTUAL ally.

The Thrill is Gone

As 2020 moved into the latter months of the movement, the years of white liberals’ racial justice inaction inexperience of white liberals’ freedom fighting was starting to take its toll, as fatigue set in. Soon, they were resettling in their old routine of ignoring the injustices of black people, wrapping up with the warm fluffy white privilege blanket and pretending that everything in America is so darn star-spangled awesome. It was here… the return to the same old same old… that we realized the truth.

Malcolm would have told us we’d been “bamboozled,” “run amok.”

The trick was complete. We were no closer to achieving racial justice, than we were months prior, we gave up ground by allowing them to actively participate instead of demanding they shut up, listen, and follow orders. This led us to constantly get talked over, excluded from having input in our own issues, our voices silenced, and most egregious, outmaneuvered in our own movement.

In time, news outlets were focusing less and less on the protests and more on the continuing saga of Covid-19 and that’s exactly where white liberals’ attention went also. See, had we been paying closer attention, we would have picked up on this in the beginning and avoided this whole mess. But we so desperately wanted to believe that white people finally SAW US and more importantly UNDERSTOOD us, that we missed the red flag. When was the last time, white people gave a damn about ANYTHING prior to it being the leading news story dominating the airways?

NEVER.

Think about it, once it became clear your “allied” white friend went back to business as usual, did you still feel comfortable talking to them about your black experience?

Probably not.

This moment, this time, this experience showcased white liberals with their cavalier and nonchalant attitude toward our problems, that they benefit from — many times at the expense of our lives — is not only an indictment to them as unreliable and unwilling supporters, but should serve as the wake-up call to Black Americans that we need to accept and embrace the validity of 2 undeniable facts as we continue to strive for what is rightfully ours in this country:

1. WE. HAVE. NO. FRIENDS.
   1. NONE!
2. WE ARE ALL WE GOT.

In closing, I’ll end it with this:

“He’s the most deceitful, he’s like a fox and a fox is always more dangerous in the forest than the wolf. You can see the wolf coming, you know what he’s up to, but the fox will fool you. He comes at you with his mouth shaped in such a way that even though you see his teeth you think he’s smiling and take him for a friend“ – Malcolm X

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