#PermitPatty, Policing and Peak Privilege

See this face.  Embed it in your mind.  Know how to spot one.  They tend to show up anywhere Black people are trying to exist.  It’s another Becky.

In case you don’t know the back story, here it is:

There’s been much written about how calling the cops on Black folks is often fatal.

There are posts that attempt to humanize Black bodies because… you know… Black folk are not often seen as human and people still need to be convinced of our humanity in the year of our Lord 2018.

There have been pieces written on the weaponization of the tears of White women.  For more on why White women’s tears are dangerous, I invite you to read this post from Luvvie Ajayi (see also here, here, here and for something a little more academic, here).

I could write my own thought piece, but I don’t have time, and I’m tired.  I’m tired of writing about the silly, racist, often fatal antics of some wypipo.  It’s sunny outside and I have work to do and food to cook, so feel free to take a look at the work of the authors cited above.  There’s a lot of good stuff out there that has already been written, and I commend them to you for your enlightenment.

I write this post mainly to highlight and amplify the work of others.  I do not have anything to add, except that I will be employing a new phrase from now on:

“Peak Privilege”

It’s copyright.  I came up with it (okay, no I didn’t.  But I like it so I will use it.)

It’s not just your run-of-the-mill White privilege or male privilege.  It’s not just your invisible knapsack type of privilege.  Peak privilege is an audacious sort of privilege.

It’s brave and it’s brash and bold and unsightly.  It’s arrogant and air-headed and it self-aggrandizes.

It’s a privilege that says, “even though I admittedly operate a possibly illegal marijuana business, I am still going to call the police on a little Black girl selling water who had already received permission to sell water on the premises.”

It’s a privilege that says, “even though my law website says that I deliver my legal services in English AND Spanish, I’m still going to be a racist asshole with anyone non-white and wield, not only my White privilege (even though “Schlossberg” is an immigrant-sounding last name, but I digress) but also my educational and class privilege.  I like Hispanic money — just not Hispanic people.”

It’s a privilege that says, “I’m a little White girl and I’m gonna wear a gun to my high school graduation and dare people to take it from me when I know that Black and Brown people have been shot and killed for far more innocuous actions.”

As a Black woman, it’s a privilege that astounds me.  I sit here and I write and I marvel at the sheer audacity.

And yet some people still deny that they have any White privilege at all. Sigh.

To the #BBQBetty’s and #PermitPatty’s and anyone else who wishes to take policing on themselves, who appoint themselves as the neighbourhood law enforcement, who insist that the police will come to their aid and be on their side and kill some Black people while they’re at it, I say: Mind your business, go sit on a tack, find some Lego to step on if you need something to do, and ponder your privilege.