I posted this message (Does anybody say “status update” anymore?) to both my personal and my public Facebook page. I think you saw it, but if not, read it here.

“Donald Trump isn’t a Republican issue or a rich people issue or a human issue. Donald Trump is a white people issue. Whenever Ben Carson says batshit crazy nonsense, Black people rise up, and let him know that he needs to STFU. Whenever Raven-Symone pops off, we put her cap back on. We even handled Rachel Dolezal for you. Yes, we also make jokes and come up with clever memes and hashtags, but at the core of all that is that we are letting these people know that they are embarrassing us as Black people. It is time, white people, for you to finally step up and recognize that you also (even more so) have a responsibility to your race. It is up to you to silence Donald Trump. Don’t just insult him and make fun of him. You have to connect it to your race. Recognize that he is embarrassing you as a white person. Simple snark won’t win here. You have to feel it. You have to use words like “as a white person” and “he is an embarrassment to my race.” Stop acting like Trump isn’t the pinnacle and the result of America’s history and tradition of white supremacy. And again, P.S.: Simply put, white people, come get your boy.”...

Kamau,
This idea fascinates me on a lot of levels. First of all, you’ve hit on something very true: white people in this country never feel any need or any pressure to denounce/regulate/distance themselves from other white people when those white people act out of pocket. Black people, and every other racial/ethnic/religious/sexual minority, understand “come and get your boy” all too well. Being forced to account for someone else’s words or actions is particularly old hat for black people – as is being made to speak on behalf of All The Black People, as translators or apologists, whether they want to or not. Similarly, everybody but white people has become well acquainted with the feeling of oh fuck, please don’t let him be while waiting to find out the identity of a criminal, an alleged criminal – hell, at this point, even a victim.

All this is because whiteness is invisible. To white people, anyway. The idea of checking Donald Trump just because he’s white makes as much sense to us as the idea of chastising an elephant for taking a dump just because we’re both carbon-based life forms.