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Look! A Story About a White Cop who was Once Nice to a Black Person! Racism is Solved!
A cousin I adore posted a story on Facebook about a white cop who, in response to protests and civil unrest, decided he needed to “do something,” and so he helped a Black utility worker by accompanying him to all his calls that day, thus assuring his safety. All of my cousin’s friends and some of our family chimed in with how wonderful that was. All except for me. I pointed out everything problematic about the story, and our collective white responses to it. The White Saviorness, the celebration of individual action instead of demanding the dismantling of a racist system, the belief that one (or ten or a thousand) good cops is a sign that things aren’t so bad.
Acknowledging the sweetness of the story she posted, I pointed out that the cop (and everyone commenting) is only doing about 5% of what white people need to do here. Sure, the officer is telling one Black person that he’s here for him, but he’s not telling those white people who are not outraged and bothered by the systemic treatment of Black people that he’s NOT here for them.
The bottom line is — we white people are not doing enough to confront our own communities about racism.
I asked my cousin and everyone who commented what they are actually doing to protect Black utility workers just…
