The Elijah Hamilton Challenge

Collective Identity Defense

In the wake of writing and speaking on Afrophobia, racism and systematic suppression, and oppression of non-white peoples, I find myself reaching out to find others.  Each time when a racist act takes place, nine times out of ten there’s going to be one white person in a knee-jerk response to protect their insulated comfort level by saying “not all white people are racist!”  No matter what, this statement will ALWAYS BE SAID.

It’s always interesting when someone says this, because in most cases you are not accusing 100% of whites of being so.  In addition to that, it seems like when this claim is made it’s letting you know that that white person cannot tell the difference between an isolated incident being spoken of, or a condemnation of the entire white race. Or rather, any talk or discussion of the isolated incidents that occur is, in their mind, conflated to a damnation of the entire white race so therefore they must defend.  The psychology of collective-identity-defense and deflection can lead into another article in itself, so I’m going to cut that one short and drive forward to point out something that should, in theory, ease the minds of the white readers I make so “uncomfortable” so much: I found a non-racist white guy.

“Not all white people are racist”

Forgive me my white friends, to include the conservative folks, if you’ve “felt” like you are personally being accused, and the mention of the atrocities across the country — which deals with blacks being killed with near lynching-era impunity — hurt your feelings.  Forgive me if you “felt” the knee-jerk urge to defend every white person in the world when that’s NEVER the claim made.  Do not forgive me for my sarcasm, however.  Racism isn’t just held at the “act of malice” standard.  If you are blind to the racial double standard in media bias depicted below, for example… your passive allowing of racist policies and practices help perpetuate the problem.

With that being said, not only have I found a non-racist white guy, this white guy operates with the firm intent on doing the things you might be afraid of: challenging the system of oppression that exists in the United States.  Elijah Hamilton first made his video on the 16th of August.  I highly recommend seeing it, if you are actually serious in undertstanding racism.  This is the video I call the Elijah Hamilton Challenge.  This challenge, instead of dumping an ice bucket of water on your head for a disease that effects a few, this is dumping questions on your head… which may be as discomforting as an ice shower itself.  In dumping these questions on your head you are then engaging in critical thinking and retrospection, which cures a sociological illness that effects over forty MILLION people (40,000,000+) in America.  In this challenge, Elijah covers a wide range of where implicit biases and subconscious fears reside.  In honestly answering to his challenge, you might not like what you see. But the good news is the fact that being made aware of an issue allows you to then fix it.

Do you accept the Elijah Hamilton Challenge?

Photo Credit: Elijah Hamilton’s Channel