Before you call out Tumblr social justice activists for ignoring white allies:

Please remember that Tumblr POC have no obligation to reward white allies for being allies. NONE.

I’m writing this in response to this post about Macklemore, which I’m not reblogging because it’s enormous. The post starts out being about Macklemore ostensibly, but as you read the thread, it becomes an excuse to demonize Tumblr POC for not giving white allies enough credit, and, uh, no. Just. NO.

Put bluntly, Macklemore, as awesome as he is, should not be viewed as a role model and some kind of white hero/white savior simply because he acknowledges his privilege and uses his lyrics to promote awareness.

Yes, that’s awesome, but the whole point of Macklemore’s activism is that Macklemore’s activism should be THE DEFAULT WHITE MALE BEHAVIOR, not some glorified thing that we elevate and prize above all else. And when we treat him like he’s a hero for demonstrating basic human decency, we make racial and gender and sexual equality all about white dudes instead of about the people it needs to be about.

This is a HUGE problem that we have especially with people like Joss Whedon and Neil Gaiman and a number of other straight white dudes that we hero-worship and idolize because they’re so progressive, even though our hero-worship of them can easily overshadow the causes they’re advocating. The same thing goes for white women.

Look, I’m a white woman, and sometimes I get really upset when people on Tumblr universalize white behavior and lump all white WTNV fans in with racist WTNV fans or whatever, and I want to be like BUT WE’RE NOT ALL LIKE THAT, because yeah, sometimes that shit hurts my feelings. Obviously. But the bottom line is that when someone on Tumblr universalizes and generalizes my behavior, I don’t get arrested for shopping at Macy’s or Barney’s as a result. I don’t get shot and killed for walking across my neighbor’s yard while wearing a hoodie. I don’t get unfairly profiled by cops or TSA employees. I don’t suffer harm.

So when you tell Tumblr POC that they should be more grateful to this white dude for being a basic human, try to remember that maybe, just maybe, they’re ignoring him because they don’t need that one extra reminder about how privilege works: that POC are told they should hero-worship a white dude who raps about his own privilege, while countless black rappers who rap about their own suffering get demonized as vicious thugs. Fuck that noise. And when you top that by trying to shame Tumblr POC for how they respond to the white rapper?

You don’t speak for me, and I’m pretty sure Macklemore would not want you guys speaking for him.