White Compassion
We' are currently in an age of racial awakening as I would call it, where we finally are coming to grips with not just the racial inequalities that currently persist in our country but the history that has allowed for it to fester for so long.
White privilege is the phrase used the most I think when beginning many of these discussions. From the criminal justice system to economics. Sometimes so broad that it’s hard to actually pinpoint. I’d like to introduce the concept or idea rather of white compassion. White compassion, a branch of white privilege, is the humanity lent to white people regardless of prior history and behavior.
There is no bigger beneficiary of this currently than the sitting President of the unified states.
On Friday morning Donald Trump sent out one of his infamous early morning breaking news tweets. This one happened to be more personal than usual, as he announced he and wife Melania both had caught Covid-19.
The response by many in the mainstream media and his political colleagues, both allies and opponents has been generally pleasant & full of well wishes. One might think that’s the proper thing to do when a person contracts a deadly virus, but is it when that person has been the viruses biggest deniers?
While Nancy Pelosi and others pray for Donald Trump, I’d like to point out that Donald Trump is a bad person. He lacks tact and basic common decency. I can say that with confidence regardless of my political affiliation. Some reasons why I feel so comfortable making that assessment:
Made fun of a physically impaired journalist,
Said that he kisses, touches women as he wants and they allow it because he’s a star.
The Trump Foundation sued and Donald Trump forced to pay $2 million for misusing charitable funds for political gain.
Called covid-19 the “kung flu” and told supporters of his at a rally that he told his administration to slow down testing, going as far as downplaying children who have it as, only a sniffle.
As I heard on the radio Friday morning, “no matter how you feel about Trump, no one would wish covid on anyone, not even their worst enemy.” But that’s not true it all.
White compassion allows for behavior not to matter and humanity to trump all, pun intended.
Trump himself has been flippant towards exposure to the virus and effects it has on those who get the disease. So why should we as a country care or take the virus seriously now?
As crude as it may sound, white People are seen as human in this country in a way no one else is. They can kill people and have the white house be sympathetic towards them (Kyle Rittenhouse), because there’s compassion. White Citizens can claim false reports on other citizens which put their lives in danger and have being called an unflattering name the extent of criticism (Amy Cooper).
White compassion is why the me too movement gained traction and also who it chose to give a voice too.
White compassion can be so subtle we don’t see it. The jokes we make at the expense of black women that we wouldn’t make about white women, is a subtle example. There are also more obvious ways that white compassion can manifest itself that are ultimately deadly.
A 2012 study from the National Library of Medicine showed an unconscious bias in lack of pain medication given to black patients following a surgery. We may not notice, but even in our medical practices a special level of compassion is levied to whites which is not given to blacks.
Compassion shouldn’t stop but it also shouldn’t be reserved exclusively for the preservation of white supremacy in this country.