Stop Making Excuses for Hateful White Men
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White Lives Matter demonstrators display an American flag at a protest just south of the Capitol grounds in Austin, Texas, last year. They came from Houston with the message that the hate crime law is unfair to white people.
A Somali-American Muslim woman was attacked and severely beaten in Columbus, Ohio, over the weekend, after coming to the defense of another Muslim woman who was being verbally assaulted.
Portland, Oregon, is still reeling after the previous weekend when two black teenage girls, one who is Muslim and was wearing a hijab, were verbally abused on a commuter train. Their attacker cut the throats of the three men who came to their aid, killing two.
Two Native American men were that same weekend by a driver in a large pickup truck at a campground in Grays Harbor County, Washington. One died. A Quinault Nation statement said the driver yelled racial slurs.
And the week before that, on May 20, a black college student, only days away from his graduation ceremony, was fatally stabbed at the University of Maryland. It鈥檚 being investigated as a hate crime.
All of the people arrested are white men. The attackers spewed racial slurs. They were known to affiliate with white nationalist groups on social media.
Sean Christopher Urbanski, charged with murdering student Richard Collins III at a bus stop on University of Maryland鈥檚 campus, was a member of the Facebook group “Alt Reich: Nation,鈥� where bigoted comments were made against people of color, Muslims, and women. The page, which had over a thousand members, has since been removed.
Jeremy Joseph Christian, arrested in the Portland train stabbing deaths, was a 鈥渒nown right wing extremist and white supremacist,鈥� according to a . Motivation seemed clear enough, but then this happened: A Portland police spokesperson was quoted as saying, 鈥淲e don鈥檛 know if he鈥檚 got mental health issues.鈥�
Why would he say that?
Why is mental illness the go-to line for white men who commit acts of terrorism against people of color? Why is it an easier excuse than plain hatred and vicious racism?
Most people with mental illness are not violent, and only 3鈥�5 percent of violent acts can be attributed to individuals living with serious mental illness, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. In fact, people with severe mental illnesses are more than 10 times more likely to be victims of violent crime than the general population.
The label 鈥渕ental illness鈥� when referred to white men who鈥檝e committed bigoted violence is a dangerous cover-up. It downplays the contribution of racism.
Mental illness elicits sympathy. It becomes merely sad that a white man like massacred nine black churchgoers in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2015.
The easy excuse is not OK.
How does the saying go? 鈥淭he definition of insanity is to continue to do the same thing expecting a different result.鈥� So how do we change, stop making excuses for evil white men? How is it that folks expect racism to go away when nothing has been done at a structural or institutional level to dismantle it? And many who remain in their own silos perpetuate it, directly or indirectly.
In fact, this country has doubled down. How else do you explain the election of Donald Trump?
According to the , the number of hate groups in the country rose 鈥渇or two years in a row in 2016 as the radical right was energized by the candidacy of Donald Trump.鈥� SPLC鈥檚 annual census of 鈥渆xtremist鈥� groups, reports that 37 percent of over a thousand bias incidents directly referenced Trump.
From the moment Donald Trump became the GOP nominee for president, his misogyny and bigotry became the kindling and fuel for white people who live in fear to act out their hatred on others.
So leave mental illness out of it. I say the blood of Rahma Warsame, 40, Jimmy Smith Kramer, 20, and Harvey Anderson, 19, Rick Best, 53, Taliesin Namkai Meche, 23, Micah Fletcher, 21, and Richard Collins, 23, is on Trumpism.
Actor Jim Carey said the other day, 鈥淐overing up for this president is like putting make-up on a melanoma. It鈥檚 not only unsightly, but it鈥檚 dangerous.鈥�
I would like to add 鈥渁nd hateful white men鈥� to that statement following 鈥渢his president.鈥� If we keep making excuses and not holding these people accountable for their terrorism, all the social justice marches, rallies, truth circles, diversity meetings, and 鈥渦ndoing racism鈥� workshops amount to absolutely nothing.
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Zenobia Jeffries Warfield
is the former executive editor at 精东影业, where she directed editorial coverage for 精东影业 Magazine, 精东影业 Media鈥檚 editorial partnerships, and served as chair of the 精东影业 Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee. A Detroit native, Zenobia is an award-winning journalist who joined 精东影业 in 2016 to build and grow 精东影业鈥檚 racial justice beat, and continues to write columns on racial justice. In addition to writing and editing, she has produced, directed, and edited a variety of short documentaries spotlighting community movements to international democracy. Zenobia earned a BA in Mass Communication from Rochester College in Rochester, Michigan, and an MA in Communication with an emphasis in media studies from Wayne State University in Detroit. Zenobia has also taught the college course 鈥淭he Effects of Media on 精东影业,鈥� as an adjunct professor in Detroit. Zenobia is a member of NABJ, SABJ, SPJ, and the Ida B. Wells Society for Investigative Reporting. She lives in Seattle, and speaks English and AAVE.
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