The Performance of Goodness: Vonda Page
15 x $5 Week 4
Because of our proximity to white supremacy culture and what it demands of our bodies, white people are performative. We are taught to disconnect from our empathy and emotions to make us effective, docile weapons. This also means we are unable to truly connect with the world around us the way other people can. So we fake it.
Watch: Performing “Goodness”
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“White people perform for two audiences: Y’all perform for each other, for white people, and y’all perform for us (Black people).”
…
White people are trying to position themselves as “the good white.”
It’s time to let this go. Performing goodness serves only to make us feel better about ourselves. We will never reach visible allyship. There is no signal to show our “goodness.” We are all unsafe.
It’s easier for us to accept this about other white people than it is to accept it about ourselves. But our pain over being perceived as bad or unsafe is nothing compared to the tangible, everyday harm people suffer at the hands of white supremacy. Remember: those are our hands.
Watch: Performing Antiracism work
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Consider the response folks of the global majority get when they talk about race, racism, and whiteness. Consider the response white folks get when we regurgitate the same things.
If everything we do is performative, does that mean we should just stop trying? Absolutely not. This line of thinking is no different than when you ask a white man to not say one offensive thing and he responds: “Fine, I’ll just stop talking altogether.” White people need to be leading conversations about white supremacy and doing the work of healing ourselves and other white folks.
That work is healing our bodies from generations of violence and erasure. To disassemble the weapon within us. Take back our own hands & use them to build the future we want to see.
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