Nuance

I had an interesting conversation with two other students the other day. We were discussing various political issues and student #1 said something like, “I know I’m white passing, but when has that stopped racists?”
This gave me some pause. Then student #2 responded saying, “It has never stopped racists.”
I said, “I would disagree with that, but I don’t want to argue about it.”
I tend to like discussion and debate, not argument. I felt that my comment would lead to an argument, but I could not let my disagreement go unsaid. 
They then started talking about nuance. Student #1 said that, “I am making very generalized statements that don’t account for nuance…”
Student #2 said, “Well ok, there’s nuance… When I say never, I mean systematically, generally speaking.”
They also said, “Fair assumption to make is if I’m talking about oppression, I’m talking in terms of systems rather than in terms of individual interactions.”
I don’t know why I would ever automatically assume that if you say “it’s never stopped racists” instead of “it’s never stopped racism.” I hope you can see the nuance there.
I decided to change the subject. I also decided to stop associating with these two students for the time being, potentially forever.

Now I hope you can see my problem with this. I do not intend to promote myself as being always right and morally better than anyone and if it comes across that way, I apologize. Specificity of language is important, but not always. In everyday conversation it does not matter very much. If I say something silly like, “I hate Mondays!”it is hyperbole. People would know I don’t mean I hate every single monday that has ever existed. But if I am having a conversation about politics or other sensitive topics, I personally feel that the specificity is far more important.

That leads me to the very nuance they were referring to. If we are talking about “racists,” like individual people who talk and act in a racist way, I would argue that skin color alone has certainly stopped them before. There is an article I read years ago that supports this: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/black-woman-white-privilege-racism_n_61ae133ee4b07fe2012a3f67 

This article, I think, displays a lot of that nuance that I was talking about. She talks about going to school as a child prepared for a lot of racism and clamor, yet, there was little to no initial reaction. The racism she experienced at that school came from her teacher, who likely was aware of her race. She even says, “If any protesters had been there, they probably wouldn’t even have known I was Black. With my blond braids and my sparkling new outfit from Sears, I might have walked right by them.” Her appearance alone lowered the racism she experienced to a great degree. Is that not nuance? Is there not a difference between the racism of racists and racist systems? Even though she still did experience racism, most of it was not aimed directly at her. In these cases, it did stop racists, or at least, it redirected their racism. 

Despite having the ability to “pass,” she still made it her business to fight against racism and use her privilege for good, even if this made her a target. It’s not explicitly said, but it seems like this is why she experienced so much oppression. Not because of her skin color, but because she was not afraid to be Black.

There are many subjects we can afford to not be nuanced about, but I think racism is one subject that is extremely important to be nuanced about.

See you Monday.