Not to mention self-pitying victimhood
Roll over Beethoven, Lincoln, and Einstein
One of our current Madison school board members is promoting an essay to further her indictment that White People are the Problem! Too many of the wrong kids stealing cars and busting each other in the cafeteria? Blame Whitey!
The Policy Werkes excerpts liberally from the recommended essay, which was published by local public radio station (who else?) in Seattle WA. We invite comment from the Peanut Gallery but cannot resist our own snarky comments [bold-faced in red between brackets].
‘I am drowning in Whiteness’
Nothing really threatens the Seattle identity of liberal utopia more than asking white people to acknowledge what whiteness is and where it is in their lives.
People tell me to stop making things about race all of the time. [Wonder why?] But when you are not making things about race, you’re making them about whiteness all of the time. [Sometimes, dear lady, a cigar is just a cigar.]
Every decision that you make with ease is made with whiteness. [‘Every breath you take, every move you make, I’ll be blaming you.’] Every door that opens for you is opened by whiteness. [Yeah, my college didn’t have enough white students.] And I know this sounds like I am taking away all of your achievements, and I’m not. But I need you to understand that from the Constitution [the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments?] to our education system to our pop culture [Jay Z? Shaq? Michael Jackson?] – everything that we do is steeped in whiteness.
And when you do not acknowledge that, you make it about race. [Heads you win, tails we lose.] Because then I have to navigate what you won’t see. I am tripping over the roadblocks that you don’t even know that you’re placing in front of me. [Would be helpful if you could name these roadblocks. Just one.]
I am drowning in the whiteness, and you can’t help me if you can’t see it.
Now, it’s uncomfortable – it is uncomfortable to realize how much easier you may have had things. It is uncomfortable to realize that a lot of the benefits that you may have came at the expense of other people. [the zero-sum game fallacy. One cannot succeed without making someone else fail.] That makes you feel bad; it makes you feel guilty. [Not me, sweetheart, but do rave on.] And I do not have a solution for that because it should make you feel bad and it should make you feel guilty. That is not my goal. (I mean sometimes it makes me smile.) …
From a speech given by one Ijeoma Oluo at “Interrupting Whiteness,” an event held on June 1, 2017 at the Central Library, co-hosted by KUOW Public Radio.
Blaska’s Bottom Line: Ever notice? This kind of crapola doesn’t fly in places like Wichita or Scranton or Wausau — places where people work hard for a living. Only where there is too much money, too much leisure, and too many tenured socialists. Speaking of which:
BONUS EFFLATA: Swear to God these progressive-socialists could politicize a dish towel. Where else but in The Nation:
An Astonishing New Cancer Memoir
Brings Radical Politics to the Genre
Anne Boyer’s The Undying insists on a Marxist and feminist reading of the disease, opposing narratives confined to individual triumph or tragedy.
Couch Coach Blaska Sez: The Steelers’ Ben Roethlisberger is out for the season. Drew Brees is out for 6 to 8 weeks. How long do you think the Packers could survive without Aaron Rodgers? Tim Boyle hasn’t proven he can QB the practice squad. Packers need a proven NFL quarterback as back-up. Carson Palmer and Luke McCown are recent retirees. Suit them up. Consider Colin Kaepernick if he apologizes and promises to kneel only in the victory formation. Tim Tebow, anyone?
Whoever is the back-up, sign him up today. Play him whenever the Pack is ahead by two TDs in the fourth quarter so as to preserve Rodgers. That is all.
Blaska Policy Werkes 
19 responses to “‘Drowning in whiteness’”
Thanks for dropping the Kap reference.
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As Dr. Seuss wrote so eloquently, “Oh, the thinks you can think.” That woman is living in a Suess fable, where “whiteness” has acquired more symbolism than its scientific reality.
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“That makes you feel bad; it makes you feel guilty. And I do not have a solution for that because it should make you feel bad and it should make you feel guilty. That is not my goal. (I mean sometimes it makes me smile.)”
Missy, ignorance, after all, IS bliss… so keep smilin’….
“Get used to being uncomfortable. Be the person that nobody wants to invite to dinner party.”
Another easily “reachable goal”, by Godfrey !
“What will kill me may not be a cop”.
Yep, Black-on-Black stats say likely it will be a person of color….
SMH, WTH, etc.
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LOL on Whitey from Leave it to Beaver!
Great insights from the Policy Werkes, as well.
Ms. Olua, don’t make assumptions about me or place me in the same category as all white people. Not only does that deny me of my individuality, but it’s short-sighted, limiting, and blatantly racist. Do all black people think the same way, have the same interests and hobbies, and levels of belief? No. So don’t assume that because I’m a white person that I have something in common with every other person who shares my skin color.
Maybe the elitists who pander to this ideology had it easy, but I can assure you, Ms. Olua, that my family worked hard for every little scrap they have.
By the way, I want every American to thrive, not just for the individual’s well-being, but because we are stronger as a nation when everyone is doing well. Dividing us by race is destructive and does nothing to.further this nation.
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Paula,
I believe Olua is explaining that all things being equal, whitey still has tremendous inherent advantages within a white dominated society built upon structural institutional prejudice towards black people (and to a lesser extent other minorities) and that prejudice exists today.
Your family’s work ethic is irrelevant in the sense that if a similar black family worked equally hard they would still be at a disadvantage because of far more societal obstacles/prejudice to overcome.
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That’s one school of thought. Ask black Americans like Walter Williams, Candace Owens, and Jennifer Carroll, however, and they’ll likely weave a different story.
Nurturing anger and blaming other people for your misfortunes may feel good and righteous, and it’s certainly easier than taking personal responsibility. But it will do little to chance the trajectory of your life and your sense of inner peace and contentment.
We live in an imperfect country where prejudice, inequity, and rotten things do most definitely exist. We should of course, work hard to address these stains on our nation.
Placing all white people in one container, and all black people in another container, and making sweeping generalizations about each other, however, is destructive to all of us, and will do nothing to help us progress as a nation.
My people didn’t arrive in this country until the 20th century and had absolutely no part in oppressing anyone – and as a matter of fact, were victims of oppression. So because my skin color happens to be white, I need to atone for other people’s sins, people who, by the way, I don’t even know and wouldn’t have anything in common with?
I choose to look at people as individuals and to surround myself with people based on factors like their CHARACTER and their level of integrity.
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It’s an imperfect nation (and world) to be sure. Always has been. Are there people who exploit the system and who are able to do well not because of their own merits but because of say, their last name? Absolutely.
But we still live in a nation that offers hope, as well as the greatest number of opportunities for anyone who wants to work hard.
Nursing anger, resentment, and divisional politics is not only unhealthy for the individual, but it will tear this country apart.
United we stand, divided we fall.
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Paula,
Somehow I doubt your comments are the lifeline that Ijeoma Oluo desires because she’s “drowning in whiteness.”
I’m thinking more along the lines of prostrating your self and finally admitting you are the spawn of Satan and your skin color proves it.
Your personal life story is irrelevant because you’re white and therefore complicit.
Note to DB: why dig up a speech from 2017 on subject matter covered ad-nauseam on this blogsite when there are many talented black writers, teachers, performers, athletes, business people, lay people, etc. promulgating a victimless positive message who need more exposure.
The last thing we need these days is more fuel to throw on the simmering fire of anger, division, and distrust.
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Surprised by your comment, Batman. I think the Policy Werkes has extensively quoted conservative black leaders and thinkers like David Clarke, Shelby Steele, Clarence Thomas, Condoleeza Rice, Thomas Sowell, and Robert L. Woodson. etc. And also, somewhat defying easy classification: Kaleem Caire, especially.
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For some reason, Candace Owens is not drowning in whiteness despite her childhood.
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Nonsense, Batman. Companies are jonesing to put a minority face on their roster. Universities to put some color in the faculty photo. The school district will appoint principals based on race and fire teachers based on race.
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Batman, I do know what you’re trying to say.
To some people, because I’m white, I’m automatically un-redeemable and “part of the problem,” and my experiences and insights mean absolutely nothing to them. In my mind, that is a racist mindset. And there is likely not anything anyone can say to change how they process information.
Which is fine, because I don’t write for their benefit. These are people I won’t engage with, because it’s futile to attempt to have dialog.
We’re also living at a time and place of egotism and selfishness, where “my needs and thoughts and issues” are more important that yours or anyone else’s. And the loudest get the most attention.
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In a herculean effort to short-circuit EVIL Whiteness, tune in to the Cerveceros game tonight to see the time is nigh for MLB to start pandering to Hispanics again.
Just not, one would hope, White Hispanics.
And in a magnificent display of solidaridad, one to which the WOKE ought obsequiously aspire, their opponent (San Diego) does this all season long.
El Gotch
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Pure PC BS.
What is “whiteness”? Czarist Russia; Lafollette’s progressivism; Sanger’s eugenics?
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“Tim Boyle hasn’t proven he can QB the practice squad.”
Beg to differ; I trust the coaching staff who see the QB’s in real time, all the time. What they saw was Boyle is preferable to Kizer, the latter making it painfully clear he’s not where he needs to be at this point in his career and raising the very real concern of will he ever be. He didn’t do much to set himself apart, by any stretch, even going back to last season.
The plain and simple fact is: Rodgers goes down, the season’s over, leaving Green-n-Gold fans little to hope for other than the 2020 draft. Welp, that and relishing the ongoing joke and Five Alarm dumpster fire that is the Midgets of the Midway.
In addition to shutting down the playbook to an embarrassing play-not-to-lose level, their greater concern would be scrambling to find Boyle’s backup, conspicuously missing from the roster.
Gone are the days when any team with a 1st tier QB, past his rookie contract, could afford a more-than-just-serviceable back-up, or two; you overpay him and the rest of your roster is filled with waiver-wire cast-offs no one else wants and Arena League call-ups.
While the Gold Standard remains the NE (pituey!) Patriots, the 13 Time World Champion Green Bay Packers have done a better-than-average job of managing the salary cap by making tough, often unpopular, personnel decisions.
For those whose approach to the game is tempered by their superstitions (c’mon; it’s only weird if it doesn’t work, and it always works once!), the lovely and long suffering Mrs. Gotch and myself had a couple of extra 40’s we brought back home from Iron County.
The last time that happened was in 2010; we popped them open at the Super Bowl XLV kickoff!
GO PACKERS!!
The Gotch
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Teams have gone to the Super Bowl with mediocre quarterbacks but not inept QBs, as was Brett Hundley, unfortunately.
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Though the list is long, the poster-boy for signal caller ineptitude begins-n-ends with Jeff “Boy” George; honorable mention to future Green Bay Packer HoFer, Cryin’ Jay Cutler…
Anywho; TEN teams have won the Super Bowl with a reserve under center, with only 4 of those in the post (1994) salary cap era.
The Gotch
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This just in from the left’s ongoing crusade against white privilege: State Rep. LaKeisha Myers (D-Milwaukee) has proposed (long overdue) legislation called “Creating a Respectful and Open Workplace for Natural Hair Act” to protect “natural” hairstyles from discrimination in the workplace. “I think that by looking at hair as a racial trait, this bill would alleviate the negative response that African Americans have in the workplace carrying [sic] natural hairstyles.” By “natural” does she mean the kinds of hairstyles sported by many AA women (and some men) that look like exploded pineapples and that must take hours to achieve (i.e., to fashion from natural hair)? “Racial trait”? Wud up wi’ dat? If, as the left, relentless preaches, race is a “social construct,” what does hair have to do with it? Of course this kind of nonsense is guaranteed to get white liberals all wet between the legs as it provides them with yet another item on their ever-growing checklist of ways white privilege manifests itself. And if you can’t see that, you’re a RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYCIST.
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Facetious Trigger: Gary, Often in the newly revised Thomas Jefferson historic portfolio, we see many vintage drawings of slaves w/ exploding pineapples. Later, when that French guy invented/took photos, the film speed only showed the result. Thankfully, it was all squared away by the 1st “Shaft” movie. Hence, the resurgence in the “right to have natural hair” legislation.
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