Political Correctness, Segregation, and Capitalism: An Explanation and Call to Action for Bewildered White Liberals PART 1

Borrowing from Michelle Alexander’s superlative book The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, I will begin by saying that this essay is not for everyone. I write it mostly for fellow white liberals, specifically those who were dumbfounded when Trump won the presidential race, folks who feel that their country changed overnight. I write this for folks who want to help but have no idea what to do because they don't understand what happened. I will also say that I write it for those of us who have not been listening to Black voices, like Michelle Alexander, who wrote the New Jim Crow in 2010. There is a historical precedent for Black voices being ignored until white voices say the same thing. While I write this hoping to wake folks up, I hope part of that awakening will come with the profound understanding that Black people have been saying this since we brought them here in chains.

This essay does not seek to explain the entirety of this incredibly complex historical moment with three neat nouns. Rather, I focus on these three specific things—political correctness, segregation, and capitalism—because I think that they will best help explain the current situation to this specific audience.

A note on language before I begin: I will be referring to racism and white supremacy only, not because other issues— misogyny, xenophobia, Islamaphobia, homophobia, etc—are unimportant or unrelated, but for simplicity’s sake. I chose this issue also because I believe that racism and the systematic genocide of people of color are at the very root of our problems. Please do not misunderstand me; I see all issues as equally important because they are inextricably linked to our white supremacist culture. White supremacy refers, not to small bands of southern men in white hoods, but to our pervasive, internalized, and normalized culture that holds whiteness (and maleness, and straightness, and cis-genderedness, and Christianness, etc.) above and better than all others. It is white supremacy that stole this land and renamed it the U.S.A. It is white supremacy that wrote the constitution and built the institutions we operate in today. It is white supremacy that hears “Black Lives Matter” and says, but…. It is a pivotal piece of our country which must be dismantled if we are to finally to be a democracy. (The next post, part 2, will begin explaining the damage done by political correctness)