Steve QJ
2 min readMay 3, 2021

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😅Okay, so your observation is that my article could have been written better? Yes. Yes it could. As much as it pains me to admit, I'm aware that nothing I've ever written was flawless. Have you ever read anything that was?!

But your critique could also have been better, and have given the impression that you actually care about black people, which I guess is the issue here. I gave actual examples of black children and young black adults who are having their self-image damaged by this stuff. Do you care about them?

Children will learn about racism at some point in their lives. Or better yet, maybe they won’t. Maybe at some point us grownups will get our act together and sort out these problems so that they get to grow up in a world where nobody has to talk to them about racism. No child will benefit from being told that there’s a system out there “that stops black people from accomplishing anything”.

This is so simple and so obvious. Do you really not see this?

I'm well aware that many black people are successful despite things like CRT. My point is that we should get rid of as many things as possible tha black people have to be successful *despite*. Many black people are also very successful despite racism. Does that mean that we should say (to borrow your framing), "so what?" about racism?

I don't begrudge Patrisse (try to spell her name right) Cullors her wealth. I have an issue with the fact that she's made that money on the back of a movement that claims to support black lives and yet even by her own admission and the admission of other chapters of BLM, has failed to enrich and support the black community or make them safer. Black deaths, both at the hands of the police and by homicide are *UP*.

What is happening in the age of social media is that racism is being used for clout and social media approval by people who don't care about fixing it. Go check out the #blackouttuesday hashtag on Instagram. You know, the one that everybody was so proud of themselves for posting black squares on last year? Look at what it's become now. A bunch of people adding it to their totally unrelated posts for clout because they think it might get their selfies or random advertisments out to a few more users.

Which brings me back to my point. Racism has become a way for people to get rich, to get famous and to get followers on social media. That's an issue, and it’s a million miles away from saying that racism isn't a real problem or doesn't need to be solved. It's saying that an industry has grown up around the current racial tension which is counterproductive. You seem to think that talking about racism, whether or not that talking is or leads to anything productive, is a good thing. I’m telling you, and showing you with real-world examples, that it's not.

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Steve QJ
Steve QJ

Written by Steve QJ

Race. Politics. Culture. Sometimes other things. Almost always polite. Find more at https://steveqj.substack.com

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