Hari Kondabolu: Racism vs. White Guilt

This video is great.  Bonus Trivia–Hari’s brother Ashok is “Dap”, the Hype man from Das Racist!

Great post!  Very true.  I was in line in SF once, and the people just behind me were an Indian couple with a small child, and a very elderly Sikh gentleman.  Only a totally idiot would consider any of them as potential terrorists.  Duhh!!  So, they got pulled out of line to be searched.  I am a fairly standard white male (a bit on the fat side, but that is fairly standard).  I had been helping the Indian couple with their stroller and luggage (they were really  nice people), so I got pulled as well.  We all got our luggage run through (at that time), a new security screening machine, and then moved in front of everyone else.  It was all stupid beyond belief.  Come one folks, who takes a baby on a terrorist mission?  And an elderly person who can barely stand on his own?  None of this makes any sense.    Me, heck, I am guilty of taking advantage of my friendship with POC to move to the front of the line.  But of course, it doesn’t always end up this way for them, whereas my white privilege always applies.
But I don’t feel any guilt.  I was happy to move up in the line because I had befriended some POC, thus having double advantage (do we have a term for this??).   Even though that was not my intent (really, don’t most people help other people in line????  I am not sure)
Personally, I am interested in justice, not guilt.  Thanks for posting this and making me think.
PatrickInBeijing

Good point there because guilt doesn’t always translate into action.  

I am white. I do not feel excluded from the anti-racist movement because of this video…if anything, I appreciate him calling attention, through comedy, to the uselessness of white guilt.

I should mention that I was responding to the transcript.  Now that I’ve played the video, I think his delivery softens the message a lot.  Sorry I missed that the first time.

Even so, what he’s saying seems very typically racist to me, even if the subject of his racist statements is atypical.

“So, I went to a prestigious small liberal arts college in Maine. Like many other people of color who’ve gone to prestigious institutions of higher learning, I had a lot of white liberal friends.”

(I.E., I am about to mock white people who feel a certain way, because their skin-color invalidates what they feel.  But I went to college with a lot of white people, and I have a lot of white friends, so i know what I’m talking about.  I know a lot about ‘them’.)

Then he gives us a parody of the ineffectual white liberal.  If it weren’t for his emphasis on their whiteness, his stereotype might go over well on conservative talk-radio: bleeding-heart liberals don’t have any courage; they write a lot of emails, and make a lot of noise, but that’s all they do.  He wouldn’t make it with that audience only because he includes whiteness in the stereotype — as though a differently-colored liberal would step forward and fight the customs officials right there in the airport.  His portrayal implies that only the white-colored liberals are spineless, and of course that wouldn’t do (because most people are sensitive to racism when it’s directed against them, and that listener demographic would be mostly white).

His closing remark spells out what he’s been saying a little more explicitly.  “remember this: your white guilt is a part of your white privilege. Enjoy it…while it lasts.”  I take that to mean “I don’t want you to try and translate your sense of guilt into effective action.  I want you to shut up and enjoy your privilege (so that you’re easier to hate?)  I like for you to be the Other.”

That’s why it looks bloodthirsty to me: because it tells white people to “Enjoy your privilege, while it lasts,” rather than try and change anything.  It says, essentially, “White liberals are pathetic: and since you can’t stop being white, I wish you would stop being liberals and become the kind of overt oppressor that’s so much easier to rebel against.  I don’t want to be your ally: I want to smash you.”

Peace.

He brings up “white liberal friends” because he is about to discuss “white guilt”. Why would he bring up other liberals of color when he is discussing this phenomenon? Also, it is not generally conservatives who feel guilty about racism, so why include them? He even qualifies his statement with “some” so as not to generalize all white liberals this way. This is his personal experience with some white people; he is not claiming that this is how all white liberals feel or stereotyping them. I don’t read anything in your last paragraph as being implied in what he says. If anything, I think he is pointing out that guilt doesn’t automatically equal allyship or action on the part of the guilt-ridden party. You seem to equate liberal with ally or anti-racist, and that is just not always the case.

As you might guess from my other comments, I don’t accept your first point.  I really believe you should rethink that assumption.

Your second point I like better.  I do see value in haranguing liberals for not doing enough — though singling out the white ones strikes me as counterproductive.

It’s not about “skin-color”; it’s about the power and privilege that white people have as a result of oppressing people color. if you think this discussion about “skin color;” than you’re not seeing the forest.

@Rua – A, you’re wrong, and B, don’t presume to speak for my intentions.

I don’t want or desire anyone to ‘stop making me feel bad.’ I’m not a baby.  I want to be reminded- any thinking person with a conscience would want to be reminded.  I work against this bullshit wherever and however I can every single day.

I don’t want or desire anyone to ‘stop making me feel bad.’ I’m not a baby.  I want to be reminded- any thinking person with a conscience would want to be reminded.  I work against this bullshit wherever and however I can every single day.

Powerful amount of agree. Guilt doesn’t mean anything in the bigger spectrum. In a egotistical masturbatory way it does, but that’s of the tiny spectrum.

Great video he was spot-on!

Eh, I never really thought of it that way. I still know a substantial amount of people that still ask “if racism isn’t over how come we have a black president?” so at the end of the day(for me anyways) White Guilt > White denial, though I can see how it would get annoying.

it seems to me that there should be more categories to responding to racial injustice than either racism or guilt..how about compassion?

it seems to me that there should be more categories to responding to racial injustice than either racism or guilt..how about compassion?

I understand the distinction you’re making and it’s an important one. Thank you.

My problem with white guilt is the same problem anyone’s guilt.  You can’t make everything about your guilt, and ignore the feelings other people are having just because you feel guilty.  A lot of time is spent discussing white guilt.  A lot of energy and attention is given to this topic.  I want to say, “Shhhh!  Stop talking for a bit and listen to what others have to say!”  It’s much more useful than wallowing.