An Antifa Under Every Bed

I think I figured out what it is that scares white people about "antifa" so badly. They're afraid they're going to catch an ass whipping for doing something racist. They've been complaining about "SJW's," but they figure SJW's are just going to say something to them about being racist or homophobic or misogynistic. They've all seen the videos of racists getting punched in the teeth, and they've seen a whole lot of other white people reacting to those videos with the equivalent of, "Yeah, this is good entertainment," instead of "Oh my stars! This is terrible!" 

I do get a real lift out of seeing Richard Spencer get punched in his pasty melon, and I definitely get a good laugh out of white people who think they're going to whip out the n-word on a Black person getting a forced nap. That video of the dude walking around Seattle with the swastika arm band suddenly getting really worried when a Black dude obviously larger than he is, and getting sent to see the sandman is a good portrayal of community justice in the absence of a government interested in justice. I look forward to a world where none of that needs to happen, because Richard Spencer has had his ass whipped enough times, and there aren't enough people to listen to him that we never know his name, no white person ever fixes their mouths to toss out the n-word for any reason, and someone wearing a swastika armband is going to find it hard to make it off of their block, and definitely not more than a mile before they understand that they are endangering their own lives. 

Even I wouldn't advocate someone getting their chin checked over doing or saying something they just didn't know was racist, and I do believe the plurality of white people just don't get that racism goes beyond "being mean or explicitly prejudiced against Black people." You don't deserve to get punched in the teeth because you didn't know better, and it is the smallest fraction of a minority of people who advocate that. I really don't want to have to punch anyone in the mouth. LIKE REALLY, REALLY, REALLY. My hope is that even those people who have yet to take on the project of educating themselves about systemic racism, and how it infects the way we all think, including me, will make the white people in their lives who are loud and proud racists know it's not tolerable, and we're not going to have their back. "I can't make you stop being racist, but I can stop letting to do and say racist shit around with me without pushback, and I'm going to tell you that you deserve it when someone punches you in your big, loud, dumb mouth," is what we're looking for.

In those cases which are implicit or covert racism, the worst of what you're going to get is someone making you uncomfortable by somehow referring to what about what you did or said as racist. It's not to make you feel bad. It's to let you know you don't want to say or do that thing again in the future, because it's racist. That's all. NO ONE expects white people to suddenly come to a point where none of us does or says anything racist in the next month. The expectations are starting to get to the point that we at least starting showing a desire to educate ourselves about these things, and that's a damn good thing. The expectation isn't that after all this time white people are going to suddenly and magically not be racist any more. Everyone who cares enough to think about it knows it's a process. The expectation if finally reaching the point that you make yourself part of that process, at least in looking at your own learned bullshit.

The hope is that you give enough of a shit about living with other people that you don't want to do or say things that are racist, because of how it effects the people you live in society with. The rebukes start getting stronger when you demonstrate you're not willing to change your behavior in a way that makes it less harmful for people to just exist in the same space you do. It worried people, as it should. You're demonstrating you're not even willing to compromise on something that really costs you nothing, because you're not wiling to even hear how your actions, words or attitudes effect A LOT of other people.