by Matt Aspin
I’m not really a racist. Or homophobic. But now you’re here, so you might as well keep reading.
Marcus Harrison Green asked me to be part of the cast reading an early version of his screenplay “Caucasians Anonymous” to a live audience. Of course I immediately said yes, because, well…it was Marcus Harrison Green.
So I’m cast as a gay man. My fiancé describes himself as a redneck, and swears like a trucker. We’re in a support group of white people that are supposed to increase their awareness of their privilege by talking to each other about it.
It’s quirky, it’s edgy, it’s well done…and it’s gonna be rebroadcast on 88.5 at some point.
And that’s when it hit me. I hadn’t told anyone but my wife and a few close confidants that this was happening.
There was something holding me back from sharing news of this event to a large portion of my Facebook neighborhood.
And there it was…the whole point of the play. I was worried about being judged by too many, for the things people judge others about. And thus far I had chosen the safer, nearly sanitized route. I had done this thing that felt risky, and then I just sat on it to maintain my safety in my bubble.
So I decided to write an article about this experience. And this was it. And now you’ve read it.
Truth is…I guess I still have a long way to go. So I’m just going to keep showing up, and trying to do the work.
Caucasians Anonymous will broadcast ***someday, somewhere***, including a follow up chat about racism with the writer and his cast
1. If you subscribe to privilege theory, you’re NOT a lefty. You’re a liberal. Liberals DEFEND the system. The Left wants to END the system.
2. Black liberation does not stem from white guilt, er, white people “checking their privilege.” Black liberation comes from black people’s self-activity.
3. Privilege theory lets the system that produces racism entirely off the hook by focusing exclusively on the actions of other workers rather than on the capitalists.
4. Privilege theory hasn’t done a god damn thing to stop black people from being murdered by cops, redlined out of communities, bring water to Flint, stop the building of the New Youth Jail, or end the New Jim Crow.
5. Privilege theory HAS allowed a number of “professional liberals” to make a good living by giving workshops on privilege: ($250 Early-Bird Rate available before June 23rd, $275 thereafter.) https://www.eventbrite.com/e/internalized-sexism-white-privilege-a-workshop-for-white-women-tickets-33509372435
1. I think the system needs to end. Just be nice if there was a viable replacement waiting in the wings.
2.Maybe, but…the energy of that activity sure could be more efficiently applied if it didnt have to do its work on an uphill slope.
3.I dont know much about privelege theory, but it sounds like we both blame the capitalists.
4.Maybe not, but still, guilt can be a pretty powerful motivator. Entrenched problems require solutions coming from a lot of different angles.
5.That’s just sad. See Reaponse #3 for the cause.