On Black Jobs and Being "The Help"

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One of the many things that people of pallor do that always hits a particular nerve in me is the seemingly unbridled desire or unconscious urge to automatically assume that Black and Brown folx, Indigenous people, and people of color are "the help" so they should be addressed as such.

A chunk of the generational trauma that people of pallor navigate the world carrying in their brains and bodies is built upon biases, stereotypes, and a belief that most jobs and tasks aren't worthy of being jobs people of pallor should have or tasks they should have to do. And there seems to be this innate inability to refrain from making jokes about people of color doing manual labor for people of pallor. Hell, chattel slavery was built on these ideals, so it's not surprising that this messiness is imprinted in the DNA of generations of people of pallor.

But just because it's not surprising doesn't make it any less oppressive or mean that people of pallor shouldn't unpack and unlearn this sh—.

This nonsense has happened to me my entire life. Most people of color, Black and Brown folx, and Indigenous folx deal with this in some capacity. I have been stopped while shopping dozens of times by people who think I'm "the help." It doesn't matter what kind of store I'm in or that store team members are usually in uniform with a name badge on their lapels – I still get pegged as "the help." I have been in shorts and flip-flops and still have people of pallor asking me where the Brita filters are.

It happens when I'm gardening and minding my business in my yard. I've had people of pallor ask me for my card because they "think I do good work." Many jokingly quip, "You can come down to my house and do my lawn next," "I've got some weeds you can pull," or some other "funny banter." These interactions occur at least once a week in the summer months and too many times to count throughout the year.

I can't even wash my car without dealing with this nonsense. I washed my car yesterday, and as I was detailing the tires and interior, some woman of pallor cheerfully said, "I'm going to pull my car up, and you can do mine next!" I looked at her, stone-faced, and quickly said, "No. Not today." She obviously didn't expect my response because she reacted like I spit at her feet before quickly complimenting the job I was doing and moseying her ass down the street.

Let's be real: there is nothing wrong with any job. All jobs have merit and are good jobs. I will never denigrate anyone's job. Jobs of all kinds keep the world moving forward. Thousands of jobs ensure our lives are collectively easier, safer, healthier, and a little more assessable at the behest of people's blood, sweat, and tears. But this inherent assumption that many people of pallor carry that some jobs are beneath them and that melanated people are always here to serve? It's preposterous.

There are no Black jobs, Karen. There are just jobs. Period.

Your white supremacy is showing.

You might wanna tuck that in.

This Week's Opening Thought: July 24, 2023

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Trigger warning: Anti-Blackness, colonization, genocide, oppression, talk of sexual assault and other forms of physical harm.

This week’s opening thought: Seeing how education in the United States is leaning into the narrative that Africans “benefited” from chattel slavery by “earning valuable skills” and Native and Indigenous tribes and communities “benefited” from the interjection of white colonizers instead of acquiring unwanted generational trauma and oppression, let’s talk about who “benefited” from the enslavement and assault of Africans and the near genocide of Native American tribes and communities at the hands of white colonizers.

Here’s a hint: it ain’t Black, Native, and Indigenous folx.

When the raggedy-ass pilgrims came to what we now call North America, they came here with no skillset on how to be stewards of the land. They damn near died during their first autumn and winter on this unceded land. It was Native Americans, the rightful inhabitants of this land, who saved their asses, shared resources and survival skills, and tried to share their land with their new neighbors.

The pilgrims repaid the decency extended to them by killing them, distributing their lands among white people they deemed more worthy of the land, and killing and harming generations of their children through residential schools. Why?

Because they felt that Native communities would “benefit” from being forced into assimilation and conformity to white supremacy.

Ultimately, white folx colonized the entire continent, usurped all its resources for their own needs, and rendered Native and Indigenous communities invisible through oppression and erasure.

Africans were kidnapped from the shores of their continent and sold to white colonizers throughout the Western colonies to be put to work through chattel slavery. Chattel slavery quickly became the primary labor force in the United States, mainly because white people still did not possess the skills and abilities needed to be stewards and keepers of the unceded land they stole through violence and viewed Black bodies as expendable and subhuman. They proceeded to enslave, assault, murder, abuse, rape, and work Black bodies to death for hundreds of years until emancipation made it technically illegal. Once chattel slavery was abolished, white colonizers struggled to maintain the plantations and farms that generated their wealth because they still lacked the skills and experience to be stewards of the land. White people damn near bankrupted the country they built on the land they stole. Black folx, meanwhile, would continue to face similar traumas and violence to their personhood by white folx who did not view them as human beings.

This treatment persists for Black communities in the United States through laws, unfettered hate crimes, and systems intentionally built to harm and oppress Black communities.

This treatment persists even though Black folx are still exploited by whiteness on every level you can think of with no sustainable advancement for generations of the descendants of enslaved Africans.

Does it look like Native and Indigenous tribes and communities “benefited” from what white people have done and continue to do to their people?

Does it sound like Black folx have “benefited” from chattel slavery, abuse, murder, and oppression?

The resounding answer is, “Hell no.”

White society thinks that acting like the heinous crimes their ancestors committed and they currently benefit from allows for the space to rewrite history to make themselves feel better. But like a peanut butter and dookie sandwich, they’d be dead wrong to the point where you can smell how wrong they are from a mile away.

You can use as many alternate facts as you want, white people. It does not change the legitimate and well-documented facts of colonialism, white supremacy, anti-Blackness, racism, and trauma your people continue to maintain and benefit from.

No matter how hard you try, you can’t burn or rewrite all the books. You're going to miss a few.

And most of y’all would benefit from reading some of the ones you miss, comparing notes, and opening your eyes and minds to the idea that white ain’t always right.

On Genus, Species, and Names

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It has never been lost on me that white people will name their kids after the scientific name of a plant species or animal genus, yet act like correctly pronouncing my name is akin to climbing a snow-covered mountain with no equipment.

White people: if you can correctly pronounce the names of your favorite strains of cannabis and mushrooms then you can pronounce the names of melanated and Global Majority folx.

P.S.: My name is pronounced ˈferō or ˈfārō. I prefer the latter over the former, but I ain’t mad if the former happens because some regions of the world pronounce my name as such. There you go, white people. No excuses now. You’ve got a full-on cheat sheet. You get it wrong after this? You might as well gon’ head and admit you’re deeply entrenched in your white supremacist colonial ideology.

This Week's Opening Thought: September 12, 2022

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This week's opening thought: Real talk? I have no energy to put into debates with white people and Global Majority folx who are unwilling to untether themselves from white supremacy's anchors about topics like Queen Elizabeth II's passing. Her family has all the right in the world to mourn her passing. But if we're all expected to collectively front about what the Royal Family has, does, and will continue to represent on a global scale and act like the now-deceased Queen wasn't someone who capitalized from and perpetuated colonization and hate, then we're trippin', y'all.

We're supposed to all be mourning the passing of a person with a title that doesn't matter anymore who didn't want melanated children in her family, obviously looked down on most people and communities of color across the world, and has hundreds of white supremacist colonizer photo ops on the books. Y'all serious?

Nah. I'm tight. Miss me with that.

No debate.

I will put some energy into debating with y'all Jay-Z's "God Did" verse, however. Frankly, it's not his best work, yet some of y'all are acting like it's the verse of the year! What's up with that?

Discuss.