Several people are working to leave the empire right now, myself included, and the beneficiaries and sycophants are confused about why. To them, the time has come to “fight” together and make noise against the government–even though they have spent most of their lives letting others absorb the problem. When Black people explain that they are leaving because of racism, several of the beneficiaries and sycophants scoff and say, “Where will you go? There are problems everywhere, so you might as well stay here.” To me, that denotes a selfishness about the existence of others that several people are finally refusing to tolerate.
In other countries, there is an idea of functional racism. Rather than have everyone be responsible for the feelings of others, most people are disengaged unless in a direct interaction. Most people are not stalking how people move, and it would be considered rude or unacceptable to act that way. Because of this standoffish behavior, Black people and others are capable of living reasonable, if not ostensible, lives. We are able to exist without being in constant fear of our safety and we can form communities without consistent targeting. For us, this is a reasonable expectation.
Dysfunctional racism means that we are forever exhausted because we are forced to think about what everyone thinks of us. Instead of focusing on gaining skills and improving our communities, we are forced to contend with what people feel about our improvement. Sure, we can be bold and proud, but imperial retaliation is always something over our shoulders. Work is stalled, education is inhibited, and every social event is approached with caution because of all the informal surveillance that people feel entitled to do whenever there is more than one of us in a location. This attitude is dysfunctional, because why should I be responsible for the feelings and “fear” of everyone who has a problem with me when I am staying away from them.
Being able to live without interference should not be a privilege, but a human right. Reality dictates that no one will be liked by everyone, and that is completely reasonable. I do not care that people dislike Black people, but I care that they demand to make it my problem and responsibility. People should develop some impulse control and learn to keep their negative opinions of me to themselves.
Chasing A Dying Empire 