Orange Is the New Black (OITNB) has a link going around on Facebook that allows you to enter your name and generate your prison nickname and the name of your OITNB cellmate. So I click on it, fill out the form, and share it on my Facebook wall, thinking about the show and how much anticipation there is around season two being released tomorrow. Not thinking about prisons existing as a tool of genocide against black and brown people. Not thinking about prisons as horrifically violent institutions. Not thinking about the young white trans woman who I’ve been corresponding with for months who has been incarcerated for nearly one third of her 25-year life on this planet and who has two more years to go before she is released. Not thinking about how it only takes a moment without critical analysis and I’m so far in my own racism that I can’t see myself at all, desensitized to the experiences and realities that I don’t experience as a white, blond haired, blue eyed, upwardly mobile person. Then my black, mixed-race, transmasculine partner comments on the post and holds up a mirror to me, and I’m there again – engaging in violent, racist behavior. I deleted the original post from my wall because I didn’t want other folks clicking like or sharing it, knowing that most folks wouldn’t read the comments or think twice before clicking, filling out their info, and posting it like I did. Don’t let the superficiality of Facebook or the Disneyland-esque marketing of these shows fool you. They depend on our desensitization and complicity to thrive, to profit at the expense of black and brown folks, to keep white people in power, and to keep as many of us as possible asleep.
Posted on: Thu, 05 Jun 2014 18:18:09 +0000
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