On Renee Nicole Good, Normalizing Murder When It's Not One of Your Own, and White Supremacist Terrorism

TW: Murder, domestic terrorism, white supremacist terrorism

ICE murdered Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis yesterday because they know that they can. Even with multiple videos of the murder being shared across every form of media possible, showing that this was indeed an unnecessary, murderous act, ICE agents know that they can kill, kidnap, assault, harass, and terrorize communities across this country without facing any repercussions.

Y’all’s president and his cabinet have spent the last 24 hours gaslighting us, telling us that Renee tried to “run over an ICE agent” and that other citizens who witnessed a murder in real time were “paid actors.” If you’ve watched any of the videos of the incident, you know good and well that everything they’re trying to force you to accept is a lie. The male of pallor news cycle has also been on the “she deserved it” bandwagon, saying everything they can to paint Renee’s murder as justifiable.

If you’re Black, Brown, Indigenous, a person of color, and/or a member of the LGBTQIAA+ community?

That all sounds like another Thursday.

The current precedent is that anyone viewed as an emissary of white supremacist terrorism can murder and terrorize people they view as an affront to white supremacy in front of a crowd of citizens and then “Jedi mind trick” their way out of any consequences for their actions to the point that the majority of the public forgets about what happened in seven days or less. The truth is, none of this is new. This level of whiteness and bigotry has always driven the normalization of the harm of Black, Indigenous, and Latino communities, communities of color, and LGBTQIAA+ communities on this stolen land we live on.

And please don’t act like you didn’t know this.

If you’re a person of pallor, you’ve been hearing and seeing testimonials and video footage from Black, Brown, and Indigenous folx for most of your life. You’ve seen the pleas for help and support from communities being terrorized or murdered by white supremacy for decades. You’ve seen white supremacist terrorists take people’s breath away with knees to their necks, kick in their doors and gun them down in cold blood, hang melanated bodies from trees, conduct mass shootings at our gathering places and celebrations, and now be mobilized by your government to kidnap and kill. Some of y’all have marched, protested, pushed for your state representatives to do better, and have been legitimate allies in fighting for others, and I appreciate y’all. But real talk?

The rest of y’all didn’t start caring about the oppression and murder of others until your government started blatantly attacking, harming, terrorizing, and murdering people of pallor in the same ways they’ve been targeting, terrorizing, and killing non-white and non-hetero communities for over a century.

Renee Nicole Good’s murder should be mourned. Renee’s family and community deserve justice. Her murderer should be held accountable. But let’s call a spade a spade: it shouldn’t take people of pallor being endangered in the same ways that melanated and queer communities are endangered every damn day for people of pallor to give a damn about white supremacy and its harmful impacts. And the fact that so many of y’all don’t get it to the point where y’all are out here acting shocked that something like this could happen, and co-opting the “Say Her Name” hashtag, a hashtag created by Black communities to amplify those murdered at the hands of white supremacist policing and terrorists who are regularly ignored by white supremacist media and social mores, to talk about Renee shows how you’re more uncomfortable with the fact that you couldn’t ignore a woman of pallor being murdered in the same ways you ignore everyone else being murdered more than anything else.

We’ve grown tired of asking people of pallor to show up for what seems like time immemorial. Most of us have just stopped asking because what’s the point? But now that the white supremacists are essentially killing and terrorizing their own, how long will y’all care? How long will y’all stay in the fight for justice and safety for everyone in your community, not just people of pallor? You’re angry about what happened. Will you carry that anger and energy into the next time a Black, Brown, or Indigenous person is murdered by white supremacist terrorists? Or will most of y’all be on to the next thing by next week?

We already know the answer.

We won’t be holding our breath waiting for you to prove us wrong.

(Sidenote: I haven’t watched any of the videos and do not plan on watching them. I have a strict personal policy around watching footage of anyone being murdered. If you do watch or have watched any of the videos out there of Ms. Good’s murder, please take care of yourself.)

On Genocidal Holidays, Pallor Fragility, and Willful Ignorance

I haven't wished people a "Happy Thanksgiving" for years. I don't think this federal holiday deserves well-wishes for obvious (terroristic, white supremacist, big colonizer energy) reasons. Instead, when people who celebrate the holiday wish me a Happy Thanksgiving or ask me what I'm doing for the holiday, I state that I don't observe the holiday - no extra context or nothing, because I expect most adults to get it without me spelling it out. I then mention that I hope they're celebrating this holiday with intentionality and an understanding of the historical context of the holiday and its branding.

And whew, y'all.

People of pallor do not like it when I say that. Not one bit.

You should see their reactions, y'all. They either say something like, "Well, I hope you have a Happy Thanksgiving anyway, Pharoah" with that Karen/Kevin energy with their face all contorted with derision or find a way to get away from me as soon as possible and end the conversation they initiated. And it's funny to me that they do this, because it proves that many people of pallor can only exist and operate in a space that caters to them willingly ignoring how harmful so many things in pallor culture, society, and history really are.

You know you can have some turkey on Thursday with your family while acknowledging how funky Thanksgiving as a holiday and concept really is, right? It doesn't have to take away from the meal.

You can be thankful for the blessings you have while also having the fortitude to digest and understand history and educate others on how harmful this week's festivities can be for Native and Indigenous communities and tribes.

It doesn't have to be one or the other.

Knowledge and empathy should always trump feeling cozy in ignorance.

Just sayin'.

And most of y'all's turkeys be dry anyway, so is being willfully ignorant and eatin' unmoisturized meat worth it?

On Messiahs, Deities, and Identities

Image description: At the top of the frame is a picture of Abraham Lincoln, JFK, MLK, a depiction of Jesus Christ, and Charlie Kirk standing above the sentence, "All because of words." Below that image is a smattering of confused faces trying to process the contents of the image.

It's intriguing to me how much so many people of pallor desperately want, or even need, a modern-day figurehead for their whiteness. So many people of pallor want that one person to look up to, to follow, to be an identity for their beliefs, and it's been mind-bogglingly dangerous to watch unfold.

There are so many people of pallor who really want their own Martin Luther King, Jr., which is ironic, seeing how they hated that man with every fiber of their being for being a voice of unity and non-violence and the people they earmark to be their version of MLK are, well, the complete opposite of that.

They desperately long for the person they can position as their next coming of Jesus, to the point where there's a whole MAGA Christian sect that view y'all's president as the messiah.

(Side note: if you're not familiar with the MAGA Christians and their "prophets," it's wilder than you may think it is. I would say, "Don't Google 'em," but you're probably already doing it, so good luck.)

And now, a white supremacist bigot, racist, xenophobe, transphobe, and misogynist is being deified by people of pallor across the United States for being a "civil rights activist" and "voice of the people."

But here's the thing, people of pallor: you wouldn't have to be constantly searching for an identity if your ancestors didn't make it their mission to remove your identities, homogenize you, and vilify the identities of others to make your homogenization feel superior in your heads.

You wouldn't always be on the hunt for a new messiah if you didn't feel your current belief set was sufficient enough to support your hate and white supremacy.

You wouldn't always fall for snake oil salesmen sellin' y'all soda water and tonics as the cure for all of your ills if so many of y'all weren't so desperate to be loved and lied to by these "prophets"and grifters who only care about your money and adulation.

And deep down inside, most people of pallor know this.

But a lot of y'all ain't ready for that kind of conversation. And the way so many of y'all act like lemmings?

You'll probably never be.

Enjoy walking off the cliff, following your idols - just stop trying to take the rest of us with you on the way down.

[Image description: At the top of the frame is a picture of Abraham Lincoln, JFK, MLK, a depiction of Jesus Christ, and Charlie Kirk standing above the sentence, "All because of words." Below that image is a smattering of confused faces trying to process the contents of the image.]

On Byron, Jim Crow, and Identities

To all the Black people married to or in long-term relationships with people of pallor, especially Black men, I offer a piece of advice: never love any person or any concept of power and privilege more than you love your people and your identities.

I’m married to a person of pallor. We've been together for almost 16 years. I love her deeply. She is arguably my favorite person in the world. But I could never love her if it was at the behest of my blackness. I could never be with her if our relationship were built on distorting the historical oppression of my people to keep her comfortable with my existence. I have never had to minimize or suppress myself for her. I have watched her learn, unlearn, grow, and stand up against hatred, bigotry, and anti-blackness. That's what any relationship with a person of pallor should be if you're a Black person living in white supremacy.

Any other form of relationship with whiteness poses you and yours a clear and present danger.

Contrary to “popular belief” (”popular belief” meaning melanated folx who seek to curry favor within white supremacist ideology), let me tell you that there are no perks you'll receive from oppressing your people and yourself for the oppressors. The oppressors will never truly accept all of you. They will offer you no safety, defense, power, or privilege in exchange for your services. They will discard you when you no longer serve their purposes and no longer help them look acceptable and community-minded. That's not just speculation - that is history. Undistorted. Clear. Easy to see, established patterns of history with over 400 years of precedents.

To my Black people, I don’t know what self-hatred and generational trauma you carry in your bodies, but I wish you peace, healing, and a better connection with the value of who you are and what your people truly represent. I wish for you to find a love that doesn't have to be tethered to your identities but respects and uplifts them. Love who you love, but always love you and yours first.

Because when you're done acting like a rodent with a built-in bandit mask and the oppressors discard yo’ ass because you no longer serve a purpose, there ain't gonna be no one there who looks like you to help you get back home.

Pepperidge Farms remembers.

[Image description: a picture of U.S. State Representative Byron Donalds speaking to a crowd.]

Image description: a picture of U.S. State Representative Byron Donalds speaking to a crowd.

Monday's Opening Thought: May 17, 2021

This week's opening thought: At the age of 38 I just learned about the Detroit Wall, also known as the Birwood Wall, the Detroit Wailing Wall, the Eight Mile Wall, and Detroit's Berlin Wall. My mother, a Black woman in her 60s, told me about the Detroit Wall over the weekend after she had just learned about it herself.

The Detroit Wall was constructed in 1941 to physically separate Black and White homeowners on the sole basis of race. The primary concern of white Detroit residents was maintaining racial homogeneity, so local white politicians and the local officers of the Home Owners Loan Corporation (HOLC) interpreted the federal policies of the New Deal in their own way to engage in red-lining. They also created local policies to allow for the prevention of Black "infiltration" into white neighborhoods due in part to the HOLC members serving as federal appraisers. The HOLC identified areas that were "safe" for banks to issue loans to by giving each neighborhood a rating: A, B, C, or D. An "A", or "green" if you will, was practically guaranteed a loan; these areas were homogeneously white and affluent. In turn, a "D," or "red," neighborhood was occupied by Black residents who were systematically prevented from receiving a loan.

Due to redlining, the Eight Mile area of Detroit was extremely poor, predominantly Black, and viewed as a "blighted area". After World War II, a developer saw the area as a prime location to construct an all-white subdivision. HOLC appraisers viewed this as a risky proposition. Why? Because of how close it was to the "red" neighborhood occupied by Black people, of course. Because of this, FHA was unable and unwilling to lend out loans for home construction. But a compromise was made: home loans and mortgage guarantees for white folx in exchange for the construction of a foot-thick, six-foot-high wall, running for a half-mile on the property line separating the Black and white neighborhoods.

Contractors and realtors were able to attract whites to this area because the wall would "protect them". It served to keep property values high on the white side of the wall while keeping the neighborhoods racially segregated. The area is no longer segregated (both sides of the wall are predominantly Black now) but the wall still exists.

Why am I talking about the Detroit Wall?

It’s a lost and forgotten piece of the history of redlining and segregation in the United States.

It’s also a symbol of how we as a nation refuse to grapple with and learn about the truths of the pain whiteness has caused.

I grew up in Detroit. I lived on Eight Mile for seven years. I’ve never heard of the Detroit Wall or even seen the wall. None of my teachers in elementary, middle, or high school talked about the wall during U.S. History classes. We didn’t talk about it during Black History Month. There were no field trips to the wall with my fellow Black students, although there were plenty of field trips to the Henry Ford Museum. The Detroit Wall never came up.

I lived right next to this symbol of segregation in the United States until the age of 22 and I didn’t hear about its existence until I was well into my 30s. The fact that this new nugget of understanding isn’t a one-off situation for myself and many melanated people in this country isn’t shocking…but it is sad.

It’s 2021 and I learn something new about the history of racism and white supremacy at least once a week. And I get the feeling that I will be learning a new painful segment of untold/censored/silenced U.S. history at least once a week for the rest of my days. I’m a lifelong learner but constantly finding a new layer of generational trauma that our society and national culture has swept under the rug is honestly a traumatic experience unto itself.

It’s time for whiteness and our national culture to get comfortable with addressing the skeletons in the closet. I don’t want the next generation, my nieces and nephews, to have to continue the tradition of nonconsensual impromptu racist history classes at least once a week that my generation and generations before mine have and had to endure.

Learning while melanated should be growth and evolution, not pain and trauma.