You're right...you deserve to be treated with kindness and respect by them (and anyone else). That should be the baseline anytime anybody encounters a stranger (to them) in daily life. I believe you when you describe what you've been through in life. I also am familiar with the white supremacist archetype whom you're describing -- it's true that, no matter what you or I say to them, they aren't going to believe you and they aren't going to acknowledge there's a systemic problem.

I'm not talking about persuading THEM. They will never be persuaded. I'm talking about persuading all of the folks who are under the impression that affirmative action is the same as tokenism, simply because that's the misinformation they've been fed for years upon years; they've bought into the myths, but they've never taken the time to challenge their acceptance of those myths. That's how I used to view affirmative action, as a concept, before I actually took the time to read up on how it works in practice.

Those are the people who *can* be reached. The problem is that White self-described "allies" such as Jodi aren't going to convince them with that sort of toxic approach. They'll just be pushed into the arms of Limbaugh-loving wingnuts. The people who will be "won over" by performative allyship and virtue-signaling are generally those who are already malleable and highly-susceptible to power-of-suggestion. In order to reach the skeptics, we have to outline the problem and then offer up a solution. Telling them to "shut up" is NOT a tangible solution.

Also, when you refer to White people who only concern themselves with "this one injustice" -- to which specific injustice are you referring? You're not referring to "affirmative action" as "an injustice," are you? Because, if you were, I don't see why you'd be in favor of it.

I understand that folks who've spent their lives working in social justice are exhausted. But it's a two-step process when it comes to getting through to those who haven't bothered to look/think beyond their own experiences. The first step is creating that nexus where someone who hasn't faced the adversity you've faced will feel solidarity with you and seek to confront/fix those injustices. The second step is to articulate the specific solutions (steps or tangible actions) that will get us there. Too many people on the Left want to skip one of, or both of, those steps...and then they act all shocked and defeatist when those whom they are addressing won't instantly agree with 100% of what they're saying.

Marnita, I have no doubt that, if you and I were able to sit at a table together, I would learn from you a lot more about the structural deficiencies that persist...for which everyone who cares about racial justice wishes to solve. I just hope you'd believe my sincerity in terms of wanting to hone in on the long-overdue solutions that will end this cycle of going around in circles with the same recycled rhetoric, generation after generation.