OPINION
JH
I am reasonably familiar with the ‘woke’ lexicon but I recently heard a term that was new to me: ‘recovering racist’, so I did what one does and went online to find out more about it.
The first thing to note about ‘recovering racists’ is that they are, well, racists: self-confessed ones. Unfortunately for them, they are also racists for life – that’s the recovering, not recovered, part of their white, racist identity. According to Rev Kelly Brown Davis, “The only thing white people can ever be are recovering racists.” Sounds like an identity trap, don’t you think?
What a life gift for a child:
Parent: “Sweetie, the sad truth is that being born with a white skin means you are a racist and the best you can ever hope to be is a racist who publicly confesses to being a ‘recovering racist’, and forever do the anti-racist work of eradicating whiteness, another word for racism, which must be eliminated from the globe.
“But chin up, you can be the very best of your racist race. Those racists who won’t confess their racism don’t just have whiteness but white fragility: a terrible condition that makes them too weak to confess. Be strong, child, and wring your hands over your racism before the biggest audiences you can find. The great thing is that you get to wring your hands over others’ racism too, the racism of a whole race! Trust me, it feels good.
“It gets better. A recovering racist’s hand can switch rapidly from wringing to pointing and that is simply the best. You can be the conscience of a race and all its history and point out racism wherever you notice it. With practice you’ll get very good at noticing, very good indeed, expert even, if you really commit to do the work. The key is to remember that all whites are racist and then squint really hard so you can see inside them to see the thing called implicit racism, that’s like asymptomatic sickness, which means you can be sick without knowing or showing it. I know, it does sound like a super power, but the power truly does lie within all of us, you just have to awaken it, then you too can be woke.”
Child: “I don’t know if I want to be one of those.”
Parent: “What? You don’t know if you want to be one of those? But you must, you really must. Your ‘recovering racist’ identity is like the clothes you put on. Without it you are naked and vulnerable. If you are not a ‘recovering racist’ you are just a racist and everyone knows that is the worst thing anyone can ever be. What might people think of you? What might they say to you, do to you? It’s a harsh world out there child, and perceptions are everything. The howling moral mob might come for you if they notice you not confessing and doing the work.”
Child: “What is a racist?”
Parent: “I’m not really sure now…I used to know.”
