Ugh, I'm not forgetting what I said, I'm just remembering the context in which I said it. I bought up "flipping a switch" in reponse to your tired cliche about how "the incrementalism of yesterday does not and will not meet the needs of the fight against racism today," not to claim that there *was* a switch that could be flipped.
If you proclaim we need something more than incrementalism, I presume that you know what that "something" is. Only of course you don't, because this whole issue is just civil rights LARPing for you. You get to lecture people and make bold declarations of how you'll "change the system" but never talk about *how* you'll change it or why you're so sure your system will be better. You'll say that I'm assuming things about you, and it's true, maybe I'm being unfair. But I'm assuming them based on the things you're saying and the way you're saying them.
So let's get a few things straight. You are not madder than me about the fact that black people were held as slaves or the injustices that followed. My surname is a daily reminder that my family used to be property. I absolutely don't need *you* to remind me.
The needs of the fight against racism today are not greater than the needs of yesterday. Of all the things you've said (or at least implied), this is why I don't believe you think about these issues seriously. There is simply no measure by which this is true. Again, it's pure civil rights LARPing.
Your YouTube homepage is not a reflection of reality. The odds of an unarmed black man being killed by the police are lower than the odds of him being struck by lightning (https://www.cincinnati.com/story/opinion/2021/04/16/letters-better-chance-being-struck-lightning-than-killed-police/7226312002/). But imagine if every time you fired up YouTube there was a clip of somebody being struck by lightning, and every time it happened you were also shown cases from years ago. It's a perception issue. Speaking of which, you should also ask yourself why you never see white or brown victims of police violence on TV. Most people have never heard of Tony Timpa or Daniel Shaver or Mario Gonzalez.
Levelling the playing field for everyone is a pipe dream, and not even a particularly good one. There are a million factors that make life uneven for people that go far beyond the colour of their skin (again, one of the greatest failings of CRT is that it doesn't take this fact seriously at all. Its "all disparity is racism" approach is absolutely idiotic and hopelessly simplistic). So yes, changing things step by step, over time, is totally unsatisfactory. It's also the best (and as far as I can see the only) option we have. Again, if you have another option, I am all ears. But I don't think you do, which is why it's frustrating to see you throw around the idea as if *I'm* the one who doesn't get it.
And actually, CRT has had results, just not good ones. As I said, perception of race relations (from both black and white people) are at their lowest point in almost twenty years. Educational institutions have become environments where good-faith, honest, productive conversations about race are all but impossible. Black students are being taught to think of themselves as victims even when the very schools they attend make them extraordinarily privileged. And the average person on the street is so sick of hearing about how every goddamned thing is racist, that they check out of the real issues with regard to race. CRT thinking is a huge part of this problem and it's taking us BACKWARDS. *That's* why I'm against it.
So you're right, it's very unlikely that you'll change my mind. But in my defense, I think that's because I understand these issues far better than you do. I spend hours every week reading and thinking about these issues for my writing. I grew up learning and talking about them with people who lived through them. And, of course, these issues affect me personally. Ask me about the political situation in Hawaii or the history of the Hawaiian people and I'd be the first to admit I don't know much. But I wouldn't preach to you about what your people have been through as if I knew better.
