Anti-Blackness is not a deal breaker for anyone
One of the hardest things I’ve had to come to terms with over the past few years is just how universal anti-Blackness is. Almost like a currency.
White supremacy is an ideology, not something only white people can participate in, which is why you see people of color reproducing anti-Blackness and colorism, and Black people internalizing and reproducing anti-Blackness themselves.
You can even see it within different cultures. Darker-skinned Indians face colorism from their own people. Afro-Latinos face racism and anti-Blackness from other Latinos. And the irony is that the same people of color who experience anti-Blackness themselves will still turn around and be anti-Black toward Black people.
Once you notice it, you start seeing it everywhere. Even in little things like who gets empathy, grace, protection or tenderness online. Sometimes I’ll see a cute or heartfelt video involving a white or non-Black person and immediately think, would people be reacting like this if that person was Black, especially dark-skinned?
If the current administration was only coming after black folks, the outcry wouldn't be this loud. Excuses would be made every time a black person gets harmed or killed, as they did to the countless black folk who got killed over the past decade
And a lot of the time, I already know the answer.
That has probably been the most jarring part for me. Anti-Blackness crosses race, culture and nationality so easily, and somehow it is almost never a deal breaker.