Positive Whiteness was created for a wide variety of reasons. This section below will outline further specifics of how Positive Whiteness can work.
Positive Whiteness was created for a variety of functionality purposes that are a part of the Charitable, Positive White Identity, Fighting Racism, and Media Creation but also beyond those sections as well. This section outlines those Elements.
1. In February of 2017 a Jewish Chesed Shel Emeth Cemetery just outside of St. Louis, Missouri was vandalized in an anti-semitic hate incident that sparking national outcry and condemnation. The Muslim organizations of MPower Change and Celebrate Mercy’s in response raised over $100k in donations for the repair of the cemetery which was widely circulated on social media and covered in the news.
This act of goodwill served as a major catalyst for building goodwill between the Muslim and Jewish communities and also served as a major highlight for the Muslim community at large. Further, it created a direction in the Muslim community that their work was one of aiding a distressed community.
For Positive Whiteness, a part of its conceptual identity came from this very act of goodwill. What MPower and Mercy’s did serves as an example of an identity group donating not just charity to aid a victimized group, but also how the act itself from an identity group can serve as a way to build positive relations and perceptions between both groups.
For Positive Whiteness, it’s not just charity itself that is part of the equation, but also building and repairing goodwill, trust, and positive perception between Positive Whiteness as a “Whites Organization” and the groups that are being aided by the charity. There is ‘charity’ and there is sending a message. Positive Whiteness will serve as a charitable organization in all of those forms. Also, Positive Whiteness will be sending a message.
2. In the aftermath of the Buffalo Massacre by White Supremacist Payton S. Gendron, a post was shared around Instagram by user @IJeomaoluo responding to the current state of White Identity.
The post was widely circulated and received an overwhelming amount of responses of support and agreement.
While much of our Why Positive Whiteness and Build Positive Identity section covers our work on this front, Positive Whiteness was created also in response to this. With the explosion of hate crimes and related stochastic terrorism and platforms where hate and destructive White identities can flourish, a response to create a White identity defined by a positive and constructive history must occur to serve as an alternative to draw these men and people away. An alternative that can give them purpose and the power to actualize that purpose.
3. In the aftermath of 9/11, many Muslim organizations spoke out to denounce the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon.
By having leaders of an identity group denounce destructive behavior in their own community, they were able to accomplish several goals.
The first is that in the post-9/11 American society, Islamic terrorism that could have followed remained largely nonexistent. By having the leadership of the Muslim community speak out against 9/11, it created a cultural push in the community as a whole to isolate and suffocate extremism that would exist within it.
Further, it sent a message to the larger American and global community that these extremists did not speak for the community as a whole, but that they were radicals who stood against the larger Islamic community’s values.
Positive Whiteness aims to do the same against White Supremacist and racist terror in America and globally. By being a force to speak out against hate and violence that is used by malicious Whites organizations and racially motivated individuals, it creates a cultural force to suppress and isolate these destructive forces. In addition, it also allows for an orienting element to occur between the White community and People of Color by blunting any material division or alienation that could occur.
4. Positive Whiteness serves as a conduit for the racial discussion between different racial organizations and the White Community as a whole.
Much of the racial discussion occurs in an extremely imbalanced state. Often People of Color from different racial communities will have conversation points, grievances or even just points of order that they want to discuss with the White Community as a whole. When they air these thoughts… who are they speaking to? In the past, it has been no one.
This creates a disorienting and volatile environment for all involved. It creates the perception for POC that their voice isn’t heard which can lead to alienation, disaffection, and even radicalization. For White people, it creates an atmosphere of confusion, incohesive reactions, and an inability to create dialogue and response. Having at least an ability to intake messaging from People of Color, allows for better direction, alignment, and integration to occur.
5. Lastly, in our modern racial discussion, there have been calls for the White People of the White Community to engage.
Not as individuals to engage, but as White People.
Today, we can now say that White People are doing something.
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