BLM, Black Boxes, White Privilege and Black Peter

The past couple of weeks, social media has been inundated with posts and media coverage about the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement. The alleged murder of George Floyd at the hands of a police officer, who was photographed and filmed kneeling on this man’s neck for a duration of almost nine minutes sparked international outrage and worldwide condemnation. This event and the subsequent debates that followed, in particular about the current state of racism in the UK and the USA, has been on my mind a lot which is why I decided to write an essay to gain a greater sense of awareness of the issues concerned and reflect on my own views while also analysing a
few common misconceptions.

I spent my childhood and the majority of my teens living in the Dutch West Indies (St Martin) and the Netherlands, which naturally have their own respective issues concerning racism. However, #BLM has not been as prominent on Dutch social media as it has in the UK and US. At least not on my timeline. Consequentially, the vast majority of information and debates that I have come across, have been related to the current affairs in the UK and America.

When it comes to the death of George Floyd on the 25th of May 2020, there really is no debate. The image of Derek Chauvin, a white man, kneeling on the neck of an unarmed black man is a clear and very powerful indication of police brutality. So great was the subsequent outrage that it has led to protests across the globe. These protests have proven controversial as they occurred in the midst of a worldwide pandemic and flouted the “new normality” of social distancing. There is a legitimate concern that these rallies will cause a spike in cases of Covid-19. I have seen a number of people stating that this is a ‘disgrace’ and a slap in the face for those who work in the NHS. It is still too early to see what effect the protesting will have on the status of the Coronavirus, but I fully support the basic premise of the rallying. The protests have undoubtedly drawn attention to the inequality in both the UK and US.

The best way for change to occur is for people to become aware and more concerned about racial issues. The fact that I am writing this, and you are reading it, is evidence that these BLM marches are causing people to wake up to the existence of (systemic) racism, or at least consider the implications of such. However, the very catalyst for all this i.e. the ‘alleged’ murder of George Floyd and indeed some of the previous deaths of black people as a result of white policemen’s incompetence and malice, I believe is not necessarily a result of systemic racism. The dogma that has been pushed on social media of the crooked police hunting down and murdering black men is highly contentious in my opinion.

Only police with special training are armed in the UK. As a result, it is extremely rare for people to be killed by UK law enforcement (Ritchie, 2020). In 2018/2019 there were three fatal shootings by police in England and Wales. In 2011/2012, there were a total of two. One of these fatalities was Mark Duggan, a young unarmed black man. His death sparked the London riots in 2011. This was clearly an isolated case in which one police officer made a poor judgement call in an extremely high-pressure situation. This
was not a racist act. However, it seemed to represent to many Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) people, the injustice and prejudice they feel towards them. Not just by law enforcement but in society as well. I would argue George Floyd’s case is similar in that regard.

However, the figures for police-related deaths are far greater in the US. In 2019, 370 white people and 235 black people were shot to death by police (Statista, 2020). When you consider that white people make up 76.5% of the population, whereas black people only account for 13.4%, these figures seem to be shocking. There is undoubtedly a racial bias in the justice system of America and the UK. Black, Asian and Ethnic Minorities are massively overrepresented in prisons. If you are black in Britain, you are statistically 4 times more likely to go to prison than white people (Uhrig, 2016). Black
men are also 3 times more likely to be arrested than white men. As always, when dealing with statistics, however, one must consider an array of different factors. It is too easy to cite this as evidence for racism amongst law enforcement. Naturally, if black men are more likely to be arrested, this undoubtedly will skew the statistic “likelihood that black men commit a crime” and vice versa.

Lantz and Wenger (2019) analysed over 400.000 crimes that involved a black person and a white person co-offending. They found that when committing the same crime, black people were 3.1% more likely to be arrested than a white person. Of course, this is still significant and illustrates a racial bias and discrimination, but it appears to me that there is a certain level of cherry-picking going on, on social media, whereby certain] statistics are more appealing to post as they fit a particular narrative. This can be said
for both sides of the debate. The complexity of such figures cannot be illustrated in a single picture or 280 characters.

Moreover, I feel that there is too much anger, especially in the USA, being directed at police officers. There are bad people in the world and some of these people work in law enforcement. I feel that the police in America are generally undertrained and underpaid but also under-valued because of these proverbial ‘rotten apples.’ Many police officers do a magnificent job and their necessity is illustrated in the riots that are occurring. Their work is extremely difficult and stressful. Some people are simply appalling at it, I’m convinced that the majority of them are not. I’d like to highlight some of the posts that I have been seeing on Instagram, which I found disheartening, groundless, futile, or just plain ignorant. Firstly, blackout Tuesday. This trend started with the hashtag; #TheShowMustBePaused. An attempt to “hold the music industry at large, including major corporations + their partners who benefit from the effort, struggles and successes of Black people accountable”. Perhaps a somewhat vague message which quickly turned into 28 million people posting a picture of a black box, sometimes with no context, supposedly to show solidarity for the BLM movement. I could not shake the feeling that many were merely posting a black box as an easy way to convey to their followers; “I’m not racist”, “I’m a good person”, “I care”. An easy cop-out, without having to do any thinking or research on the BLM movement. Nobody
wants to be seen as racist, at least not in my circle of acquaintances and friends.

Instagram is built on people showing off their achievements and their ‘best life’. I think we are all guilty of this to some extent. However, the #BlackOutTuesday merely seemed an extension of this to me. The posting of a black box only showed that you cared enough about your followers’ opinion of you, or in some cases even might have been worried to appear racist if you did not participate, but not much more than that in my opinion. People only know their own reasons for being an ‘Instragram-activist’ and I’m sure there are many who just want justice and peace, but I’d suggest to those people to
think about some of their underlying reasons for their extensive activism. I understand this may come across as condescending and patronizing. I assure you this is not my intent. Similarly, I am now considering the fact that my very desire to write this essay, in part, is motivated by those same desires. I feel a certain level of hypocrisy. I would argue that the main reason for the writing of this paper, still is to be able to form my own ideas and outline my thoughts on the BLM movement and to try and make sense of the information we have all been bombarded with over the past three weeks. Yet admittedly, to be completely frank, the notion that anyone might take the time to read my ideas and maybe even give me some sort of praise, simply makes me feel good and
somewhat acknowledged. One way that I have justified this for myself is that these motivations are innate and help to move society in a better direction. If you spend your entire life doing good things, for the ‘wrong’ reasons, are you still a good person? I would argue that this is the case. You can want to appear a good person to your family and friends by doing good deeds and still be a good person. Your motivations are secondary in my opinion.

Of course, it might be considered more virtuous to some if you did things for others without wanting anything in return, but even then, it makes you feel like a better person. You’re still getting something out of it. Otherwise, there would be no motivation to do anything. I do, however, have a strong feeling of aversion towards those who are virtue-signaling when their actual opinions differ from what they are preaching, or their sole purpose is to seem morally superior. E.g. someone who posts a black box on Instagram, without actually caring about the disadvantages and prejudices some BAME people may endure. If you are doing something for a good cause because you believe it
is the right thing to do, regardless of other motivations you may have for doing so, such as wanting to make your parents proud, or because you believe in an omniscient Higher Power, then I would say those actions are always benevolent and commendable.

I have heard and seen a number of people have an issue with the very phrase
#BlackLivesMatter. Their ignorant argument, mostly uttered by white people, is that “all lives matter”. The BLM activists then follow by expressing that “it is not about white people” and that they are trying to bring equality for those in the black community who are at a disadvantage as a result of the colour of their skin. Various compelling memes have been shared to convey this. One of which was particularly notable to me, showing a cartoon of a black man with a broken leg, his friend shouting for help at a white bystander who replies, “what about my legs”. The problem that I have with this image is that it portrays black people as a wounded animal, helpless. This is just one meme supposedly on the side of the BLM movement, but what I am trying to illustrate is that in order to convince the masses and sway opinions, simple cartoons are being used. Such memes and the aforementioned statistics are not suitable for complex nuanced ideas and issues. Yet, we are bombarded with information like this on social media and I think this makes it hard to form your own opinions. There is an information-overload, but this information is distorted by the fact that it is trying to provoke outrage and receive likes.

I can understand people’s initial reaction to Black Lives Matter with “what about me”, “what about my life”, “does my life not matter”. I’d agree that for a movement that is trying to create unity and equality, it is not the best name in terms of marketing. I can also completely understand people’s answer to such questions with “It is not about you, you fucking moron”. Neither is very helpful, but these debates can get heated. People were already angry at the government and the fact that there is an ongoing pandemic that has caused many to struggle financially, be under a tremendous amount of stress, and locked in their houses for several months, makes for a perfect storm. Que the riots. I won’t take too much time to condemn these. I feel that the inexcusability of these riots and lootings are as obvious as that all human lives matter. Another term that seems to provoke a defensive reply is “white privilege”. White people who hear this for the first time may instantly feel that they are made to feel guilty for being white. For a working-class white person who is raised surrounded by poverty and who has been given very little opportunity in life, I can understand why this phrase could feel insulting. “What white privilege”? “My life has been extremely difficult”. BLM activists
are quick to tell these people how ignorant and selfish they are and to an extent they are right. These underprivileged-white-folk have not spent much time researching what is meant by white privilege. However, I am going to go out on a limb and make the assumption that white BLM activists generally have a higher socioeconomic status than average. It is a lot easier to care about other people’s disadvantages and your role in those issues when you don’t have any major problems of your own. White privilege can allude to a range of different societal issues. It was coined by Peggy McIntosh in an essay published in 1988. In it, she describes white privilege as “an invisible package of unearned assets which one can count on cashing in each day, but about which one was ‘meant’ to remain oblivious”. She originally was thinking through the concept of male privilege and this led her to consider white privilege too. She states that much of the oppressiveness of the people who enjoy such privileges are unconscious. White privilege is predicated on the notion that in a white person’s upbringing, at home, and at school, “whites are taught to think of their lives as morally neutral, normative, and average, and also ideal, so that when we work to benefit others, this is seen as work which will allow “them” to be more like “us.” I think that she makes a good point that is not often considered here. She goes on to list 26 effects of her white privilege. Some of these I found quite compelling and good food for thought. E.g. “I am never asked to speak for all the people of my racial group. — “I can remain oblivious of the language and customs of persons of colour who constitute the world’s majority without feeling in my culture any penalty for such oblivion.” — “I can do well in a challenging situation without being called a credit to my race.” — “I can take a job with an affirmative action employer without having co-workers on the job suspect that I got it because of race.”

The negative effects of white privilege are different for different people with a
BAME heritage. I’ve seen some black people stand up against the BLM movement and claim that they have never encountered racism towards them. The experience of being non-white is not one that can be described with one blanket statement. Furthermore, another good point I think she highlights is that it is easy for white people to think of themselves as the norm. She writes that as a white person she can “freely disparage, fear, neglect, or be oblivious to anything outside of the dominant cultural forms. Being of the main culture, you could also criticize it fairly freely.”

This point made me think of a Dutch holiday which every year since 2013, has caused much debate in the Netherlands. On the evening of the 5th of December, our Santa Claus (Sinterklaas), brings presents to young children. This holiday brought me a lot of joy as a child and I have to admit that I was totally oblivious to the racist aspect of it, until I moved to England when I was 19 and tried to explain Sinterklaas to my English peers. You can think of Sinterklaas as a cousin of Santa Claus. They look pretty similar. An old white man with a white beard. The controversy surrounds Sinterklaas’s helpers.
Instead of elves to help him distribute all his gifts to kids, he has “zwarte Piet”. This translates into black Peter. There are different black Peters for different chores. You have a chef cook Peter, a cleaner Peter, a Peter that wraps all the gifts etc. Sinterklaas lives in Spain rather than the North pole and he comes over to the Netherlands with all the black Peters on a steamboat, accompanied by his White horse. Fairly controversial, but it gets worse. Every village or town in the Netherlands that has a harbour will receive a visit from Sinterklaas and Black Peter on the steamboat. I used to burst with excitement as a young child, waiting for black Peter to hand me snacks. What I did not
realise at the time was that black Peter was actually white people in blackface. You understand the controversy. To bring this back to McIntosh’s point, a white person condemning Black Peter, might be viewed as a somewhat progressive liberal. In any case, they will be solely judged on their political stance. A black person who condemns black Peter is likely to have to
endure the prejudice that their opinions and views are merely motivated by what race they are part of and for the fact it is personal to them. These two people may have the same views for the same reasons, but they are viewed differently for it.

To someone who is not aware of this intrinsic and controversial part of Dutch culture, it is tremendously blatant that this can be seen as offensive. People who are against the abolishment of black Peter preach that it is an innocent party for children. In recent years, some of the larger cities in Holland have received Peters painted as different colours of the rainbow. I think this is a good solution. Whilst living in the Caribbean as a child, we also had Sinterklaas come to our school. One thing I found strange about this
one was that his beard covered much of his face. Much later in life, I realised that this was in fact a black man dressed as Sinterklaas. The fact that he had a black face went unnoticed by my 6-year-old self. Nor did I ever feel any different from my peers, being one of only three white children in my classroom and having a black teacher. Children do not perceive colour in the way that adults do. Racism is completely a learnt behaviour and a result of circumstance, upbringing and ignorance. I think it would be worthwhile to teach children to become more aware of white privileges. It’s not enough anymore to condemn racism but to be unaware of the opportunities you may enjoy because of the colour of your skin.

I was unsure about the following statement before writing this essay, but I do believe that to a certain degree,
“white silence is compliance.” However, not everyone should feel compelled to be an Instagram activist. I certainly do not. Nor do I feel it is right for people who are more vocal about BLM online, to urge others to post. I think that there are other ways of doing your bit’ and helping this movement. E.g. by simply discussing these issues and exposing yourself to different opinions and views, without allowing yourself to be influenced by the left and right-wing extremists. I think this is a good way to conduct yourself at any time one tries to formulate a socio-political opinion, regardless of the subject.