Conversation

Welshpixie’s behaviour over the last few days have reminded me of a certain type of person I call the “well-intentioned white folk”.

You may call it “performative wokeness”, “virtue signalling”, and of course, it applies to anything else of this calibre.

But in my life, I have always encountered this very specific kind of white person who claims to be an ally against racism, but their actions are anything but – it really feels more like it’s cloying and annoying rather than productive.

What do I mean? Well, for starters, welshpixie’s behaviour does not reflect any kind of productive anti-racism effort, but more of a self-centred perception of that person’s performance of allyship.

In my eyes, a good ally (whether it’s a white person, cis person, abled person, etc) should do something akin to these four things:

They should call out injustice whenever they see it and challenge it in their daily lives (as much as they are able to).
They should amplify, support, and understand the concerns and problems of the minority group.
They should speak up on these points where possible, utilising their advantage as a member of the majority group to speak where the minority cannot
They should look inward at their own behaviour to see if there is anything to change.

Can anyone tell me how writing slanderous statements about other people without evidence or proof aids the cause of anti-racism? Does lashing out at criticism of someone’s project meet those points? Does lumping any opposition to Ro’s project in with the “white queers”? (Now that one is actually racist lol)

Does any of welshpixie’s actions amplify the voice of a racial minority? Notice how there is no reference to any actual racism content in their recent diabtres – the imdat case was baseless, the recent missives to instance moderators even more so baseless!

It is in my eyes, my believe, that welshpixie is acting “out of bounds” so to speak.

There is nothing wrong with white people calling out racial injustice. If it happened more often, we would be in a better society.

There is, however, something wrong with white people using the veneer of racial justice to belittle, attack, misdirect, and write lies about other people.

There are several white people I am grateful to have met on Fedi who act as an ally. The key here is they do so knowing that ally is not a title – it is a description. They do not toot their own horn, and they certainly don’t make missives about it. They do so, because it is natural to them.

Welshpixie wants to be seen and not heard in their “allyship”. They are the white saviour trope. Something I have seen time and time again IRL. It is disrespectful, frustrating, and it makes me feel like it’s counter-productive.

One should always should bring a voice to the voiceless. But you shouldn’t speak like you are the voiceless.

Why call these types the “well-intentioned white folks”? It’s because the road to hell is paved in good intentions.