The journey towards understanding structural racism still requires people of colour to prioritise white feelings. Even if they can hear you, they’re not really listening. It’s like something happens to the words as they leave our mouths and reach their ears. The words hit a barrier of denial and they don’t get any further. That’s the emotional disconnect. It’s not really surprising, because they’ve never known what it means to embrace a person of colour as a true equal, with thoughts and feelings that are as valid as their own.
— Reni Eddo-Lodge, ‘Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People about Race’, 2014.
I’m surprised he said something (and unsure why he picked Father’s Day, but okay).
Quick note – I used to be a huge fan of Jared up until the Trayvon Martin case went to trial and… the ignorance came tumbling out of his nostrils at full force.
The fact that he had more to say about a young black woman who’s friend was murdered than the person who committed the crime says it all, let alone the whole cracker debate.
It was a wrap for me after that.
Yes, that was years ago, but like with all of his transgressions, it was promptly never mentioned again.
Anyway, this was his Father’s Day/BLM tweet(s):
He managed not to insult anyone, which is great.
HOWEVER.
Besides what he said about talking to his children, I don’t know what he’s trying to say. And I don’t care to read it over again.
It’s too long, to put it bluntly. Maybe it’s a case of the messenger, but I’m too tired.
He said they [he and his friend who’s also white and Southern-bred, lol] talked about not dancing around it, but apparently that didn’t translate to the statement itself.
All he did was dance around the issue.
I don’t understand why white people keep composing these essays.
The buzz phrase of the year seems to be ‘I need to do more’ – which I find ironic because it implies they were doing something to begin with.
Who are these statements for? Who are they really for? I saw someone write that he’s put out the best statement on the matter. How? Racist white people react strongly to a very simple hashtag. I don’t think his composition is really going to get through to them.
So, he basically wrote all of that about himself for himself.
I feel like he did that thing where you need to write a paper for class, but you have no idea what to say, so you just keep writing until it looks like you put some thought in it.
I was unmoved by ALL of it. I pasted that quote above because it sums up what I felt when reading it – a complete and utter emotional disconnect.
I understand that it’s hard for white people to wrap their heads around the idea that people are treated differently because of their skin colour, but…
I’ve peeped the game.
Not just from Jared, but all of the celebs out there who had free time (oh, look we’re in the middle of a pandemic!), access to a word processor and fan bases to share their words with.
As a black person, I can only read what people are saying and decide whether I believe it’s genuine. It doesn’t even matter who they are. I have had the exact same issue with a few other statements I read.
They’re basically rambling about themselves and posting it like they’re saying something. They will say the right words, say that they’re privileged, but…something doesn’t match up.
With Jared, by the time I got the end of his post, he’d come up with a very cute idea involving 5 steps. If we take 5 steps forward, we can take another five and another five.
In fact, that was probably the only part I really understood because of how frustrating it was.
This is not a baby steps situation.
Anyway, after I wrote most of this post, I realised the entire statement is directed at white people by a white man… who discussed everything happening with another white man!
[… I’m sure his other friend Stephen Amell was on hand to offer his support, too!]
I suppose I should be glad he didn’t bother a black person with the nonsense because he used up a lot of words to say:
…black lives matter, and we need to make sure that people aren’t treated unfairly or differently because of the colour of their skin. As a white person, I’m privileged because I’ve never felt like people judge me based on the colour of my skin. Going forward, I’m going to educate myself, my children and others around me so that one day, people of all races are treated fairly and equally.
In fact, had he just tweeted the hashtag and opened his wallet and donated to some worthy causes, I would have been like, ‘well, alright, look who’s getting involved!’ and kept it moving.
Unsurprisingly, he doesn’t call himself out on past transgressions – maybe he doesn’t think he has any.
I’ve come across too many instances of him being an asshole for no reason– to believe that he’s suddenly going to check his white privilege when he can barely check his regular privilege, but a’ight.
Still, maybe a miracle has happened. Maybe he’s changed (based on the statement, he hasn’t, but we all have to start somewhere!).
Going forward, I hope that:
- the black characters (if there are any) on Jared’s new show, Walker, aren’t killed off or subjected to racist treatment behind the scenes.
Note: The CW is a hotbed of racism. Kat Graham went through it on The Vampire Diaries (the link is a long read, but there’s some seriously messed up stuff in there.
Some years back, Supernatural had a black woman morphing into a dog, or whatever that shit was. My recap is a mess, but basically, a white male character was the master of a black female character. They made a big deal about her choosing to be in such a dynamic, but…yeah. It was racist.
Supernatural in general has been problematic in terms of race and diversity. In its first season, Dean and Sam Winchester took on a racist truck that was killing black men, and to date, it’s probably the episode with the most black people in it). Minority characters often meet a gruesome end, or are seen for one or two episodes before they vanish.
On The Flash, Candice Patton has endured racism from some of the show’s the fans.
….and back to my hopes:
- He stops making deportation jokes.
- He doesn’t still believe in reverse racism.
- He’s let the whole cracker thing go, because… no.
- He’s not still disparaging women of colour.
…just don’t ask me how deep that hope runs.
Oh and I noticed that Jensen’s been all pro-BLM too which is good for him, I guess, and black fans of Supernatural who want to feel like their faves give a shit.
Somewhere in a corner, Jeffrey Dean Morgan is probably following suit.
I would give them all the benefit of the doubt, but like Maya Angelou once said: when someone shows you who they are – believe them.
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