How Should We Discuss White Women Within A White Supremacist Society

Before we can start this article we have to establish a few things, let’s call these a set of standard truths or beliefs. First truth, for the purpose of this article, the United States of America is a country founded on a racist ideology known as white supremacy.

Ok, so you have agreed to that truth. Second truth, the United States of America was also founded on a sexist ideology which manifests itself in a patriarchal society.

In 2020 life as we know it has been put on pause across the world, especially in this nation because of Covid-19. This in my opinion has forced many Americans to ask themselves questions in regards to the society around them and issues they normally may not have considered or cared to examine with great detail.

Which brings us to Bill Burr’s monologue on Saturday Night Live this past weekend that apparently has drawn mixed reviews from different audiences. Speed up to 3:15 for purposes of our discussion,

Bill Burr is an accomplished and respected comedian from what I’ve researched. I guess getting to do a monologue for SNL should’ve been clue one, but moving on.

Bill Burr making fun of elderly people getting assaulted as a relic of what New York once was, isn’t what caused the difference in opinions on the monologue. It was Burr’s observation of the “woke movement” or more succinctly, the rather large role he believes white women have found themselves playing in the movement.

To be fair to white women, the first minute into his observation of them could be seen as unnecessary or mean spirited. The Gucci boots barb, diminishing real societal problems women face to feeling inconvenience, referring to them as “his bitches”. Will come back to the last two points shortly.

The second minute, or historical portion of his monologue were nothing but irrefutable truths. White women have stood by (at times actively participating) and benefited while their male counterparts commit crimes against humanity. White women have levied false claim of sexual violence by black men to avoid scrutiny for the sexual decision making or more sinister, have fatal harm to black men.

It’s how he closes the observation that has stuck with me. “So why don’t you shut up, sit down next to me and take your talking too.”

The power or lack of power white women are able to acquire historical have been given to them by white men. Take Supreme Court justices for example (a position nominated by the President, confirmed by Senate) there have been 113 Supreme court justices in the 230-year history of the court, of that number six have been minorities - three have been white women, two have been black men and one hispanic women. Even in the highest courts of the U.S., marginalization has skewed toward the benefits of white women.

If Bill Burr was tapping into how deeply white women have historically been beneficiaries of white supremacy ideology and trying to connect that for you on national tv is probably not the case, but his historical observation mixed with his feelings about the relationship between white men and women might explain his dismissals of their complaints and why the discussion surrounding white women and white supremacy feels complicated.

“You guys stood by us toxic white men …..” Voting for Donald Trump at a 53 percent rate or standing by as white men lynched black people there’s a history of white women being complicit in white supremacy. To ignore or downplay this is a contributing factor to keeping white supremacy alive. A certain amount of historical context must be made though, both for the racist and sexist histories of the U.S. when discussing the matter.

Also black Americans definitely should have their history month in the summer. I somehow think there wasn’t much controversy about that.