Whiteness

Just like being Black is not a Monolith, European Americans Need to dissect Whiteness the same way.

I am an avid user of TikTok, I post original content, duet, stitch, comment, like and repost. One month ago I reposted a creator speaking on whiteness and how it is a cult. She took the collegiate level theory of whiteness and shared with main-street America. My degree is in sociology so when she spoke on it whiteness and how white people buy into whiteness, I was like she is correct, let me duet this video with a book that is relevant to the conversation pertaining to the subject of whiteness and white women.

My audio response to the whitelash pertaining to the dueted video on TikTok.

What I did not account for instead of listening to what she was stating as far as WHITENESS being a cult, all that European Diaspora heard was WHITE PEOPLE are in a cult. What I have learned from that post, that I still have to closely monitor for negative feedback, is people hear what they want to hear versus listening to what is being said. What is truly amazing to me is folks lack of desire to critically think, to hear a concept, let it rub you the wrong way, let it wash over you, then research it for facts and truth from reputable sources and citations.

I read a lot, whether it is for increasing my knowledge base on various subjects, whether it is pertaining to gardening and permaculture, through African and African Diaspora cultures and everything in between. If I want to do something I research and learn. Sometimes I learn before act, sometimes I learn as a I am acting. I am always learning for myself. I am not vegan, nor will I be vegan, however there are some great concepts that vegans have about increase pertaining to healthy eating as it pertains to a plant based diet. I wanted to learn and assess my own view point on the subject, not what macro or micro media wants me to think and feel about the subject.

“Critical Thinking — is the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action”.

What is extremely concerning about our current population, is that they have the reading level of a 7th or 8th grader theoretically, however when information is processed it is through a lens of bias and emotions, vs one of logic and reasoning. People are listening from the point of view that mainstream media, religion, peers or family has told them is the view point they should have. Instead of intaking new information and researching and just SITTING with that thought and seeing how they as an individual truly feel about the concept.

How can we truly have discourse about the nuances of life if we do not critically think for ourselves?? How do we truly build intercommunity relations if we do not listen to points of views that are not our, look for the facts, validate the sources and then if the counter argument is correct, allow that correct counter argument to shift the lens in which I see reality.

I wrote a poem last year about African Diaspora not being a monolith. I wrote that poem due to respectability politics in our community, because of the level of harm it cause to all of us, the upper crust, lower crust and all that fall in between.

However I believe that the European Diaspora specifically in these divided states need to have a awaken to do the same.

However these are my thoughts,

Shanté

© 2023 Shante Nixon. All rights reserved.

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