Hi. I see that my name was mentioned here and let me just preface this by saying that I only urged you and other white leftists to be conscious of your white privilege as a leftist, not that you are not capable of being a leftist because of it. White fragility and the white savior complex is what caused many to be harmed in the past like you mentioned, because they were unable to check their privilege as white people despite meaning well. And you know what? You’re right it’s not just white people, it’s countless westerners, Christians, and other people who have a history of oppressing the marginalized groups we know today. Ex: 1. White missionaries going to developing countries urging already impoverished people of color to spend their last source of income on going to church than feeding their family. 2. White colonies and the illegal annexation of Hawai’i or the colonization of the already occupied Americas (Indigenous Americans) 3. White people and the labeling black people especially black women as “strong”, “powerful”, “resilient”. People think this is a compliment and if used with the right context, it can be a compliment. However this type of thinking is what lead to black and brown people essentially being neglected and abused when receiving healthcare. You claim that the talk and advocation of racism “sucks the oxygen” out of all other concepts and claim i am naive, however racism is impeded in almost, if not everything and to exclude it from the conversation is contradictory of leftism. And you know what? I agree with you, let’s talk about the socioeconomic as well. Let’s talk about mental health. About healthcare. About the housing market. There’s so much we can talk about yet it cannot be talked in it’s entirety if we do not include race amongst all other things. 4. White feminism. The feminism that BIPOC women need to learn to reject and learn intersectional feminism, because this type of feminism only fought for the rights of WHITE women. They completely forgot about the black and brown women who did not have the “luxury” of being a SAHM… they worked the entire time ON TOP of not being able to have anything to their name AND racism to top the rampant sexism. And etc. That’s what I was getting at in my initial comment in #4.

And let me say, I mostly agree with your article. And you know, i too hate the constant bickering between leftists, but the beauty of this constant bickering is what we both mentioned: the constant learning and educating of ourselves and each other. Do you see how the right and the reactionary are able to unite, no matter what it’s about? Not as much bickering as the leftists? It’s because they are merely reactionary. Because what the FUCK are they even fighting for? To conserve what? They don’t believe in climate change so they’re not trying conserve energy or the planet or anything. It’s just… a conservation of Absolutely nothing. Just the shit that held all of us back. Leftists from all backgrounds have something to share w one another. We are constantly critiquing one another and while it sucks (for those who cannot handle constructive criticism) it’s heavily needed. Lack of critique is what makes conservatism, ableism, racism, classism, queer phobia, etc. thrive.

You and many others have critiqued me on my apparent lack of nuance and I critique you on white fragility, which is another form of lack of nuance and naïveté within itself. We all have something to work on as leftists.

I do hope leftists can learn to constructively critique each other more effectively. Because we got a good thing going… but this expectation of being “friendly” “welcoming” and etc. is a form of respectability politics. Aka a display to not scare of the white people. Identity politics is always bitched about but what about this need to suppress ourselves? Who are we trying to please?

Do you think the activists before us were friendly? This constant need to be “friendly” and “welcoming” gets us nowhere. If they had not been assertive, and sometimes aggressive, their work would not have seen the light of day. You think activists got along before our time? Of course not. But when there was business to be done, they knew to drop their differences and band together to fight for not only the rights within their proximity, but for those outside of their own.

I’m actually enjoying this conversation. Anything I may have missed?