White Riot: Count Me Out!

Zack Beauchamp's "White Riot" is a must-read. Might help give a bit of context to our disturbing political landscape.

It's funny. I'm white. The whitest of whiteys. A Heinz 57 of whiteness. I mean, I come from a long line of white folks. 

Of course, if you go back far enough, go all the way back to Mitochondrial Eve, well, the source, the fountain, our most recent common ancestor, was most likely dark-skinned, but in the intervening years, somewhere along the line, the melanin in the skin of my ancestral line pretty much faded to white.

Pasty-faced. Pale Faced. White. Dotted with a healthy group of freckles. 

My people came from Poland, Russia, Germany, France, Ireland, Romania. Pretty Euro-centric. Plus I live with a white girl. A white girl with a long line of whiteness behind her too. 

But despite all the whiteness, I harbor no anti-immigrant feelings. I do not have any strong racial animus. I do not judge people by their skin-color. I do my best not to stereotype or demonize whole groups of people. That is so counter to my mind-set. When I read about deep in the bone racism, I am always pretty much baffled.

This whole White Riot phenomenon has no appeal or pull on me. It's kind of a mystery. Right?! Why do some white folks think they are better or different, more entitled, than anyone else? Seems pretty stupid. Supreme ignorance. But, anyway, I am happy that I am the way that I am. I think it's a much more human and humane way to live. White, but trying my best to be an open-minded, welcoming human being. A being, a human being, on a planet filled with an incredible diversity of beings.