Consequences

Although beneficiaries and perpetrators of whiteness have appointed whiteness as the only thing that is “capable”, worthy, and entitled, existence as we know it, exposes that whiteness is very clearly, and very dangerously, calamitously, decidedly, not.

By taking up all the space and all the air in the proverbial room, whiteness and its perpetrators, have made themselves culpable for all that is the worst that humanity faces.

For example, the discrimination against people admitted to university based on the lack of their whiteness - is the bedrock of the homogeneous pool of research in psychology and medicine. This makes perpetrators of whiteness collectively responsible for mass suffering and death as it pertains to all and every aspect of healthcare.

Due to this ever-present homogeneous lens, science, as it pertains to the West, is in and of itself unreliable, thus invalidating itself. Meaning that those studying Western education - the sciences, history, art etc in particular - are, to, and of varying degrees - illegitimate and more importantly, inadequate.

In addition to this, by painting beneficiaries and perpetrators of whiteness as the standard, the measure to be marked by - if you will -  has ultimately personified mediocrity. This calls into disrepute the standard and capacity that anyone (beneficiaries of whiteness or not) currently or “previously” engaged with whiteness (neocolonialism says hello) experiences as it pertains to.. well, everything. And ‘anyone’ being beneficiaries of whiteness or not, means.. everyone.

I say all this to say, there are consequences, and the consequences have been made evident by this pandemic.

Alt-text: A Pakistani Deaf woman wearing a hijab sits on a bench at an art museum, immersed in a world of florals and soft hues. She places her powered-off hearing aids on top of a sketchbook to her right, closing out the surrounding noise. A tablet and stylus pen have been set down on the left side of the bench.