At first, I thought this would be a class for "dealing with complex emergencies"... Now my college professor is teaching us about systemic racism, the "Politics of Disposability", structures of oppression, environmental racism, intersecting systems of oppression, and so on.

The problem is, a lot of the concerns are valid. Flint Michigan - mostly black, mostly poor. Left without drinking water for years as a result. That shit wouldn't fly for a second in a rich white neighborhood. Wealthy communities wouldn't be so easily abused by a water supplier and a compromised local government. Same deal with the racial divide in the response to Hurricane Katrina. The poor don't get prioritized. They get, at best, sideways glances in this supposedly egalitarian society. That's true.

So my professor identifies the disparity, and that's when he loses the plot. You see, all of these disparities are a result of the entire system being corrupt. The entire system is built to privilege wealth and whiteness, we must not merely stand by and "be colorblind", we must actively be anti-racist. Any violence carried out in the name of equality is merely self-defense, etc. One of the slides literally told us to "become radicalized", because it takes a radical to truly change a system, and that the white moderate is the greatest evil of all. And the worst thing is, I'm just a stupid 20-something... I couldn't possibly hold an eloquent enough conversation face to face even with all of the facts and statistics on my side. I don't have as much experience and exposure to the political landscape as he does, so what can you do... I'll just have to grit my teeth and nod my head. I wouldn't dare disagree and put a cross-hair on my back. What the hell can I even say to him? He's actively teaching us grievance-based politics and he doesn't even realize it.