Sam
1 min readFeb 2, 2020

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James Baldwin said, As long as you think you’re white, I will be forced to think I’m black. Ian Haney-Lopez in his book White By Law says that whiteness is the linchpin for racial meaning in the United States. Tressie McMillan Cottom says whiteness necessitates black subjugation. White identity exists by subjugation. Joel Olson believed in you end the disparities, you end white identity. john powell says racial identity is the primary privilege or disability. Cheryl Harris compared whiteness to property. So, ending whiteness is the key here. We specifically need to the status to have no power. People can keep the skin, although skin color is not an entitlement anyone can hold or claim. Nature can change it. It’s the status that has to go. The exclusion is on the side of whiteness. Whiteness is a denial of Blackness, even its own blackness. This is a fragile identity that has to maintain segregation and subjugation to continue. Ta-Nehisi Coates says race is a matter of policy not providence. Whiteness, white identity, white status, it’s all made. It has to be unmade. That’s what I am saying here. Does this mean people won’t call themselves white? Not sure. Even if they do, again, it’s the status that must change. It’s the ability for white solidarity to form and align itself with the ruling class. As you can see what I’m articulating here is back up by many thinkers and scholars. What are your thoughts?

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