Recently, a new craze has swept across college campuses throughout the nation.
That is the “It’s Okay to be White” campaign. The campaign is rather simple and mainly consists of hanging posters that are blank except for those five little words in bold, black print.
One of these fliers was recently found on the campus that I attend, USM. USM is a relatively small school, so relatively small things like this tend to be blown out of proportion. My school’s newspaper wrote an article on the event and on the phenomena in general, so I suppose this article will be a response to that one.
From what I have gathered, the campaign began on the trolling website of 4chan under the /pol/ board. The creator of the original post that inspired the campaign stated that their intent was to prove that “lefties and journalists hate white people”.
They went on to say that seeing them “frothing at the mouth” over the stunts would “nuke” their credibility. To little surprise, the media seems to have blindly fallen into this obvious trap.
They have immediately turned something that is neutral at face value, into a divisive issue on racism and white supremacy. This is exactly what my school’s newspaper has done as well.
The author asked some obviously moot questions in the article, one being, “Why does this person feel the need to defend their race in a public forum on the side of a building?” The way the question is worded, the author seems to imply that the act is not necessary and, to put it bluntly, stupid.
My response to this question is simple; Black Lives Matter. This group advocates for and defends their race in public places all the time. Is their cause somehow more valid because of their skin color? Is that not racist to even ask? The other question she asks is, “Who is this person calling out, if at all anyone?”
To answer her first question, I will use the words of an “It’s Okay to be White” advocate, “People of all races should be proud of their heritage. Diversity shouldn’t mean less whites. Your skin color is not evil. You are not racist by birth. You are not a nazi. It’s okay to be white”.
These words come from an invitation that this advocate posted on Facebook for a rally in Vancouver, Washington. Seems like a relatively benign message, does it not? No advocation of violence, no provocation of racism; just a defense of identity, plain and simple.
So, what began as a troll campaign has actually touched people on a more serious and personal level. My point here being that with any movement there will be many factions of beliefs within, they are never singular monoliths.
This is a concept that a majority of the mainstream media, unfortunately, does not seem to fully grasp or even comprehend.
News outlets have a very unimpressive track record in this regard, especially now in the modern political climate of progressivism and social justice activism that seems to permeate it. They love using broad brushes to paint ideas, movements, political beliefs (and many more, you just name it!) of white people.
From claiming Polish nationalism is reminiscent of Nazism, to Buzzfeed and others openly mocking white people based on racial stereotypes, to claiming that anyone who voted for Trump must be a white supremacist at heart.
I’ve heard of Black Lives Matter activists and others call for monetary reparations for things people of their race did decades or even centuries ago.
I’ve heard “people of color” call whites racially inferior because of their lack of melanin and that they are genetically predisposed to have a racist mindset. The onslaught is unrelenting. It should be of no surprise to anyone that there will be pushback movements like this.
Racism and injustice cannot be fought with more racism and injustice. It should be fought with reconciliation and understanding.
I see where these “It’s Okay to be White” activists are coming from, not only because I myself am white, but also because they are just fighting what they see is a societal injustice. A noble cause in my book, much the same as Black Lives Matter or other similar groups.
They all have a purpose and end goals that are completely valid, although their methods may not always be the best. In order for our country to come back together we need to stop the divisive rhetoric and fight for what America stands for together, as one people.
