Losers
Sam Whiteout
*Sigh*
Once again the White folks who get too comfortable have to be collected.
Sam Whiteout first gained popularity a couple of years ago as a White member of the predominantly Black Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity. His strolling videos and outspokenness about certain racial justice issues caused him the amass a large following on social media.
Unfortunately, his stints of popularity with the Black folks caused him to think he can write about anything (and for any publication) when it comes to Black issues.
On Thursday, Sam shared an article he wrote for the Harvard Kennedy School Journal of African American Public Policy called “Popularizing Wokeness.”
The article gave very general examples of what it means to be “woke” in a good way and what it means to be “woke” in a bad way. He used Drake‘s “God’s Plan” music video and the Black Panther movie as examples of what it means to be woke in a good way without ever rigorously contextualizing the politics surrounding the projects. He didn’t even take the time to consider if the creators of such “wokeness” even accepted the term “woke” in the first place.
To put it plainly, Sam’s article wasn’t written well.
And Black Twitter could tell.
Even Erykah Badu came out the woodwork to trash the article…
And ironically, Sam had lines in his article like, “as the link between wokeness and profit becomes more clear, we will face more and more attempts to capitalize off this trend without actually being woke or doing any good at all.”
Ya don’t say.
A lot of folks pointed out how Sam had the nerve to write his messy article for a Black publication.
Sam didn’t even mention once in his article that he was White either.
Eventually, Sam must have felt all the heat because he took down his tweet with the article and put up another tweet apologizing.
“I was wrong to accept an invitation to write for the publication,” he said in a full letter. “My participation in the journal contributes to a long history of white people being given privileged access to prestigious institutions, including academia.”
He continued, “If I was going to write about this topic, I would have needed to do so in a way that deconstructs whiteness while being self-reflective about how I, as a white man, fit into the structure. Rather than making progress on the issue, I caused further harm.”
You can read Sam’s full letter below…
Time will tell if Sam will move differently and respectfully in his racial justice endeavors.
But until then, we’ll pass on the articles and think pieces.
Another Fan Snags Michael B. Jordan & White “Allies” Do The Most: This Week’s Winners & Losers was originally published on globalgrind.com
