The Gaslit First Quarter
Light a match and throw it all away.
From the Capitol riots in the United States to the Report from The Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities in the United Kingdom, the ability to live in a world free from racism and discrimination has been fiercely under attack in the first quarter of 2021. And there’s no denying it.
We saw insurrectionists flying an oversized confederate flag in the U.S. Capitol after being urged by the orange one to “fight like hell” just before the inauguration.
Then we saw the U.S. Senate’s failure to convict the orange one for inciting that riot in his second impeachment trial.
We saw Pierce Morgan say that Meghan Markle is “delusional” and that he “didn’t believe” a word she said when she said she experienced racism and contemplated suicide as the only Black member of the Royal Family.
Then we saw Sharon Osbourne fiercely defending her “friend” Pierce Morgan on National TV, feigning ignorance about why his dismissive comments about the Duchess’ lived experience was evidence of racism, and attacking her black colleagues.
We saw the mass murder of predominantly Asian-American women in their workplace and an increase in hate crimes against the Asian and Pacific Islander community in North America including the brutal attack on an elderly Asian woman.
Then, we saw the police officers, who were investigating the matter, dismiss the killing of those Asian women as racially motivated and characterize their killer as just “having a bad day.”
We saw institutional and systemic racism in the UK and the Monarchy acknowledging that it needs to hire a diversity consultant.
Then we saw the UK Commission denying that institutional racism exists in the UK and its Advisor on Racism “resign” (*cough* – scapegoated?).
We saw the start of the Derek Chauvin trial for George Floyd’s death and learned that he actually kneeled on his neck for over 9 minutes.
Then we saw the defence introduce the position that Mr. Floyd died from drug use and underlying health problems.
We see this pattern on a world stage so often: Racism, denial that what we see as racist is racism, and more racism, that I don’t even have to tell you what the expected outcome is in the Derek Chauvin trial.
It’s like the world is participating in our collective racial gaslighting, a tactic used to throw another person of colour’s reality with racism into doubt.
Pay attention folks, as we intensify anti-racism efforts and initiatives around the world, “Global Racial Gaslighting,” as I will call it, is on the rise. This is the form of racial gaslighting in which we are made to believe that what we see as racism is not racism, not by individual citizens, but by subtle and regular messages in actions, decisions, and media that we are subjected to on a daily basis.
Global racial gaslighting has been White supremacy’s surprising little necessary feature of this strong, powerful system, for generations. Without the brainwashing that causes people to question their reality, White Supremacy could not thrive. Its insidious nature permeates our collective understanding of racial inequities and causes us to doubt what we know to be true.
And it affects some of us more than others.
It’s why people of all races and ethnicities can be found denying the racism experienced by people of colour. Many have already been conditioned to the belief that racial disparities and mistreatment occur not because of racism, but because of something else that they continue to search for, find, and explain away.
White Supremacy needs us to go searching for that something else. To distract us. To keep us occupied on irrelevant things, while the status quo is maintained. It needs people who have had their psyche penetrated by white-supremacist ideology gaslighting others who still clearly and plainly see racism when it occurs.
It needs them to say things like “Let’s not focus on Markle’s treatment or depression, look! She’s married to a prince!” And “Let’s not focus on White-terrorist shooters. Let’s focus on the imaginary divide between the #StopAsianHate conversation and the #BlackLivesMatter one.” It needs people who say, “Well what did he do before the camera started rolling?” or “But, I have a black friend” and “You see racism in everything!”
In this way, we see the gaslit become the gaslighter, railing against those who have yet to be impacted by the brainwashing. This is because White Supremacy needs new recruits for its culture and employs Global Racial Gaslighting and the newly indoctrinated to thrive.
We all aren’t losing it. We all saw the ways in which racism went unchecked to start 2021. We all need to be conscious of the messages we are receiving daily—ensure that we don’t internalize White supremacist ideology in all its forms and ensure we don’t perpetuate it ourselves. Stay woke.
About Janelle Benjamin: Janelle Benjamin, B.A., J.D., is the Founder & Chief Equity Officer of All Things Equitable Inc. helping employers make workplaces more diverse, inclusive, and safe for equity-seeking groups. Learn more about Janelle.
