No, Joe, It Is White Americans’ Fault
They sure as hell ain’t innocent
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On Tuesday, January 26, before signing an executive order on “Racial Equity,” President Biden said this:
Black and Latino Americans are dying of COVID-19 at rates nearly three times that of white Americans. And it’s not white Americans’ fault, but it’s just a fact.
Again, that’s what Biden had to say at the signing of an executive order about racial equity.
As part of my commitment to give white liberals hell, I’m here to say no, no, no, Joe, it is white Americans’ fault. A majority of whites just voted for a coronavirus-spreading, coup-leading, disgrace to humanity, and you want to say something is not their fault?
C’mon man! Not on my watch.
According to the New York Times, 80% of the faces of power in the United States are white, and you want to say something isn’t their fault? And it wasn’t that long ago that the site Who Leads Us said that 90% of all elected leaders are white.
Even if you attribute the disparities to systems, structures, policies, and comorbidities, the fault belongs to whites. It doesn’t matter if we are talking about dead whites or living whites; it doesn’t matter if we are talking about elite whites or everyday whites; the fault here is white, whiter, and whitest. And plenty of them whites were and are Americans.
I want justice. And my justice must find fault; otherwise, we’re talking about settlements or charity. I need justice. And whites are at fault.
If anything, the thing to say here is that COVID disparities aren’t the fault of Black Americans and Latino Americans because it’s very likely whites blame Black people and Latino people.
Instead, we get “It is just a fact,” which must be the old-white-liberal -man version of “It is what it is.” But how did it become a fact, Joe? Don’t facts have causes and histories? Biden is acting like Candace Owens on this one. He’s offering facts without factors. His facts have no backs.
The coronavirus disparities are the consequence of white America’s actions and inactions. The coronavirus disparities are exactly what you should expect in a white racist nation. This is what white racism does. And whose fault is white racism? It’s called white racism for a reason.
And I understand systemic racism, and systemic racism still has a color, and systemic racism still benefits one color. Systemic racism is still white racism. Systemic racism is not passive without actors. Systemic racism doesn’t mean no one controls the system. Systemic racism doesn’t mean there aren’t people who actively want to keep the system in place and work to keep the system in place.
When we say systemic racism causes something, we understand that eliminating systemic racism will eliminate the problem. And in that case, it makes sense to ask whose fault is it that systemic racism persists?
Let’s talk about reparations. What if reparations could’ve closed or ended these disparities? Some public health experts say there is no if. Reparations will close health disparities. While Black people have been calling for reparations for centuries, 70% of whites oppose reparations. Whose fault is that?
Let’s look at affirmative action. What if affirmative action could’ve closed the gap? In California, whites oppose affirmative action more than any group. And whites influence and position other groups to oppose affirmative action too. Whose fault is that?
In Oregon, politicians created a COVID-19 fund for Black residents worth $62 million. But guess who filed lawsuits? Whose fault is that?
Whites not only sue to stop justice; they consistently vote against justice. Whites do not get to vote for the worst politicians with the worst policies, who want to kill health care, and then say they’re not at fault for health disparities.
And in Congress, the white mob has always held legislation hostage. Whose fault is Mitch McConnell? Whose fault is Matt Gaetz, Jim Jordan, Marjorie Taylor Greene, and a host of shitty white governors and state officials who blocked the Affordable Care Act? Elections have consequences, but voters are consequential – and culpable.
By saying it’s not white Americans’ fault, Biden offers white innocence. Biden hasn’t been president that long, and he’s already pardoning whites. Or maybe he’s offering some deal where whites don’t have to admit fault.
Either way, it’s white innocence for white villainy. This is the same white innocence Biden displayed when he said he wouldn’t be accountable for what his father and his grandfather did. Biden’s claim that something is not white Americans’ fault is Mitch McConnell claiming no one currently living today is responsible for slavery. It’s bullshit.
Biden doesn’t want to accept fault or find fault. And that’s why he won’t find solutions. These racist disparities come from racist policies made by white politicians, elected by white voters, for white reasons.
Whites set all this in motion, and whites stand in the way of motions. With all that white, how can anyone say something is not white Americans’ fault? It’s wrong.
Saira Rao is right:
During the presidential campaign, Biden kept saying to look at his record on race. Add this to the file.
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