Oppression pass (n): a term I’ve coined about the belief that because you are liberal, marginalized yourself, like black people/have one black friend/ are married to a black person/have black children you don’t participate in or perpetuate in white supremacy.

My dear friends, I’m here to let you know oppression passes are being handed out like it’s six flags, but they don’t exist. In this episode of Sway Them In Color I unpack five key myths many liberal people, in particular white people, believe around racism that keeps white supremacy alive including:

myth 1: if I know/am married to/friends with a black person, I am not racist
myth 2: systemic racism doesn't exist, social outcomes are always from individual effort/character flaw
myth 3: the only form of protest that's acceptable is peaceful protest
myth 4: I am marginalized myself (gay etc) I can't be racist
myth 5: I identify as a liberal thus I am not racist

Take a dive in, listen, learn, and share. For every gain in human rights, we have always had set backs. After slavery was banned, Jim crow was born. After the voting rights act of '65, states used loop hole measures to make voting damn near impossible for marginalized groups empowered by the act to go to the polls. Our system has never been designed with equality in mind and has terrorized black folks for centuries. It has never worked for everyone especially public policy, police, and the justice system. The silver lining in strife is busting myths allows us to build a new reality. People of color, especially black people, are painfully aware of how broken it’s always been, so now we need to design something new and white people must be deeply involved in examining themselves and their own ideology for white supremacy to truly change.

Being Liberal Doesn’t Give You An Oppression Pass