Coronavirus & White Settler Colonialism

We could not be as prepared as we would want to be because generations of violence ensured we wouldn’t be.

By Class Trouble (March 13th, 2020)

Today we saw wealthier white folks talking about how we all ought to be better prepared for a crisis like coronavirus. We saw on social media pictures of stocked refrigerators, power generators, gardens, and animals. We were again reminded of now heavily racialized capitalism is and of the intersections of environmental racism and white settler colonialism. We were reminded of how victim blaming is the default response when the violence of empire is invisibilized.

We were reminded that our current reality is always linked to a history that must be named. So here’s a quick post to remind wealthy, able-bodied white people of how white supremacy has scaffolded their ability to insulate themselves from crisis and to remind Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BI&POC) that we could not be as prepared as we would want to be because generations of violence ensured we wouldn’t be.

To white people talking about “being prepared” for crisis who have land, who have generational wealth, who have everything they need to survive, check yourself: BI&POC would have that too if y’all’s ancestors hadn’t stolen everything & if y’all weren’t hoarding resources for hundreds of years.

The people who will have to practice public distancing most will be largely BI&POC populations living in the most densely populated areas. But BI&POC are in cities largely because white settler colonialism forces people off their native lands and into urban areas where wage labor is easier to find. This makes us more vulnerable to outbreaks like coronavirus.

Go into the majority of rural areas in America and you will find a predominantly white land owning population. Quick Fact: White Americans own more than 98 percent of U.S. land amounting to 856 million acres with a total worth of over $1 trillion. (Source: Inequality(.)org)

We have to rely on a centralized medical system and power infrastructure because capitalist economies rely on hierarchy to generate profit. The vast majority of that wealth goes to white people who can stock up on food, who have large storage spaces, who can take vacations, work from home, or take sick time without consequences.

The people best positioned to weather most forms of crisis in this system are the ones with the most power and access, and for those people to tell the rest of us to be prepared when their “preparation” is really code for generations of pillaging our communities, this is nothing but privilege and victim blaming.

White people should be giving resources out to historically oppressed communities and finding ways to make sure the most vulnerable of BI&POC communities have access to the support they will need to make it through this crisis. That’s all. Keep your advice.