White Supremacy Doesn’t Exist—White Saviors Do, and I’ll Keep Cheering Them On

(AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)

I am on a social media site that supposedly believes in free speech to the point where they allow racists and neo-Nazis to freely spew their viewpoints. Some of the people from these groups have chosen to follow me and make nasty comments on certain articles, especially those that involve Blacks. Like so… [language warning]

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It is these comments and others like them, that is part of the reason why I do not subscribe to the concept of "White Supremacy." Nothing supreme about people who cannot string sentences together to articulate their thoughts, or form a proper argument. White Supremacy is a nonsense term used by Democrats and the Left as a tool to train people. 

Speaking of people who cannot articulate their thoughts: the occupier of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue uses the term quite a bit.

The problem is when you adopt the language, then you adopt the premise.

Then there are the people who walk around (and make money) off Blackness being a tragedy and White Supremacy a relentless, looming, horrible burden to be borne. Case in point:

These same people want to condemn any white person who seeks to make a difference in the lives of Blacks and other races as "white saviors" taking away people's agency. The mess with Michael Oher and the Tuohy family is a real-life example of how kindness and a hand up to help someone less fortunate is twisted into a dark tale about hijacking a poor Black person's story, capitalizing on their pain, and removing their agency. It's utter nonsense, as this primer on how to be an "ally" without being a white savior reflects.

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White saviorism — which can be seen in Academy Award-winning movies like The Help, Hidden Figures, and Avatar — can also manifest in real life. Non-white communities experience the burden of white saviorism in a number of ways, and it can be hard to draw the line between effective advocacy and white saviorism that contributes to further harm.

How do you ensure you are not engaging in white saviorism and that your actions are positively impacting the most harmed communities? Here are four questions to consider to prevent white saviorism.

"Ally" is another made-up word used by the Left to set a particular narrative. It seeks to disconnect the love of God and the love of your fellow man from acts of true service. I will tear that word apart on another day. 

We all know that anyone who leads with their faith and especially their heart doesn't stop to think, "Am I being a white savior?" They simply act. Here's what the Bible book of James has to say about it.

14What good is it, my brothers, if someone claims to have faith, but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? 15Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. 16If one of you tells him, “Go in peace; stay warm and well fed,” but does not provide for his physical needs, what good is that? 17So too, faith by itself, if it does not result in action, is dead.

What these Leftists want to do is create obstacles for good people of faith of any color from acting out their faith. They want to create a vacuum so that they can manipulate bitter and dependent people who will look to the government for support and maintain residence in one of their prison systems: whether that be the prison of their minds or an actual Supermax. 

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I subscribe to Zora Neale Hurston's take from her beautiful work Dust Tracks on a Road:

“I am not tragically colored. There is no great sorrow dammed up in my soul, nor lurking behind my eyes. I do not mind at all. I do not belong to the sobbing school of Negrohood who hold that nature somehow has given them a lowdown dirty deal and whose feelings are all hurt about it. Even in the helter-skelter skirmish that is my life, I have seen that the world is to the strong regardless of a little pigmentation more or less. No, I do not weep at the world—I am too busy sharpening my oyster knife.”

Sharpening her oyster knife means she is ready for the opportunity to sustain herself, whether she finds that opportunity alone, or someone offers it to her. Hurston's life reflects captured opportunities and white saviors, as does mine. Many are ones I don't even know about, nor do I care. Yet, these examples and instances presented in popular culture: whether through imperfect movies, books, anecdotes, or good-news stories are demonized and the benefactors are framed as opportunists and racists. 

Do you know what happens when you demonize the so-called white saviors, people like LeeAnn and Sean Tuohy? You get the Jacksonville shooter. People who are so full of their own self-pity and self-loathing that they turn that hate on others.

Give me the white savior any day. 

Between the Oher/Tuohy mess and the horrible shooting in Jacksonville, we need to get our focus straight. Condemn behavior that is reprehensible, yes. But more importantly, stop demonizing behavior that is laudable and commendable. Jacksonville could use some white saviors right now and is probably getting them, despite what the legacy press wants to churn out.

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The head of law enforcement in Jacksonville, Sheriff T.K. Waters is a black man who has also had some white saviors in his life. Unlike Michael Oher in his current manifestation, Waters has chosen gratitude over resentment

After taking an oath, Waters became emotional as he thanked God and members of the church for helping him overcome hardships and become sheriff.

“I wanted to do this here because this church family...has been through the gamut with me over the last 20 years,” Waters said, fighting back tears. “You’ve seen me from a young man, come in and you’ve watched me grow up.”

“You’ve taken me through the toughest battle of my life, and you walked through it with me,” said Waters, whose son died in 2018. “So, I’ll make this promise to you, my family, my police family, my church family, this community: I won’t let you down, I’ll stand strong. I’ll do what’s necessary to make sure everyone understands and realizes what man I am and what I will do every single day as I work hard to serve this community.”

Sheriff Waters church family is Bible Believers Baptist Church of Mandarin. The congregation is cross-racial and Waters said he has attended for 20 years; so I imagine that Waters has had some white saviors come alongside and help him throughout his personal life and decorated career in law enforcement. In 2018, he and his wife navigated the tragic death of their teenage son from suicide. If you have ever walked through grief from a loved one's dying, you know that you don't care if the person(s) giving help and compassion are white, green, blue, or from Mars; you receive the love, compassion, and support like a life preserver in a riotous sea, because that's what it is.

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