Reflections on Charleston and Barcelona, side by side

In the space of just a few days, Charleston happened and then Barcelona happened. This led me to do some side by side comparisons.

Charleston. You see that a white supremacist rammed a car into some people, killing one woman. If you are a white person who says this has Absolutely Nothing to Do with white people, you won't be taken seriously. And if you mention one thing about the safety of white people and worry about backlash, you seem overly self involved.

Barcelona. You see that a series of attacks by over a dozen people has killed many. A bomb exploded prematurely and this led to a contingency plan. It was planned and coordinated over a long period of time, and the imam that accidentally detonated the bomb appears to have been the leader. If you are a Muslim who says this has Absolutely Nothing to Do with Islam, you won't be taken seriously. If you mention one thing about the safety of Muslims and worry about backlash, you seem overly self involved.

Charleston. It's perfectly obvious that this act of terror was carried out by a racist person who's also a white supremacist. If a white person manages to overlook those obvious facts and says "Well I know who the Real racists are," and goes on to talk about how white people are unfairly demonized and we must point the finger at the Really evil people, that does not come off well. The person doing this seems like a bit of a racist, and very much seems to identify with the Obvious racists in one way or another. Ignoring the obvious racism in order to theorize about stealth racism will do that for you.

Barcelona. It's perfectly obvious that the imam-coordinated terror plot was motivated by Islamic supremacism. If a Muslim manages to overlook that obvious fact and says "Well I know who the Real terrorist/supremacist is," and goes on to talk about how all Muslims are unfairly demonized so we must point the finger at the Really evil people, that does not come off well. This person seems like a bit of a sympathizer, at least with the motives of the Obvious Supremacists, and it's a mistake to ignore the obvious supremacism while searching for stealth supremacism.

Charleston. This is the sort of terrible event that makes one thing crystal clear- as much as white Americans would like to believe they've come so far and are so good at treating non-white people as they should be treated, we now know that white people in general still have plenty of work to do. White people who refuse to acknowledge this are rightly seen as hidebound and unhelpful, and if anyone suggests that this sort of assessment is motivated by irrational fear and/or hatred, that is and ought to be viewed as a petty distraction.

Barcelona. This is the sort of event that makes one thing crystal clear- as much as Muslims would like to think that they've become so good at treating non-Muslims properly, we now know (yet again) that Muslims have plenty of work to do. Muslims who refuse to acknowledge this are rightly seen as hidebound and unhelpful, and if anyone suggests that this sort of assessment is motivated by irrational fear and/or hatred, that is and ought to be viewed as a petty distraction.

Charleston. It's not all white people. No one said it was, so why would we even need to clarify this.

Barcelona. It's not all Muslims. No one said it was, so why would we even need to clarify this.



I look forward to whatever type of conversation this may kickstart. I do realize there's ample motivation for whataboutery, but instead of leaping right into that let's try and at least begin with some assessment of what I just did there.