Whitesplaining

I’m sure you’re all overwhelmed with the amount of content on mainstream and social media about the recent murder of George Floyd by a white police officer in Minneapolis, USA. I too have been deeply affected by it. After watching the video, I was so heartbroken and could not stop thinking about it. When I watched Roots (a series about slavery) at school when I was in Year 6, I was shaken by the unacceptable history of what black people have suffered. Still, I will not pretend to know what it’s like to live in the USA as a black man today because I do not. As a WOC, I can empathise, but I will never truly know. I will, however, lend my voice to amplify theirs.

Everyone has their own way of expressing their horror. For me, it’s always been some sort of creative outlet. I drew the now widely-known scene of the policeman’s knee on George Floyd’s neck. I layered this with an illustration of the airway. As someone with a medical background, I feel that this is pertinent. I wanted to highlight the fragility of the airway, and therefore of life. And that – anatomically – we are all the same on the inside regardless of the colour of our skin. I posted the drawing on my Twitter to share my grief, and received a comment from a fellow doctor, which I’ve since shared to my IG stories:

Even though I didn’t have to (as it was a public comment), I chose to cross out her name and most of her face. However, I felt that it was important to show some of the skin colour. I don’t think it’s a good look for someone who is not black to be criticising a post in support of BLM. Who are we to judge? I certainly have not criticised what anyone else has posted on this issue, because it is a sensitive one in which each person has their own personal reaction, based on their background and experiences. As a general rule, if I don’t like something I see on my feed, I scroll on. If necessary, I’ll mute or unfollow that person. I don’t feel the need to criticise the OP, especially if it’s someone I don’t regularly interact with. If I really wanted to complain, I would send them a private DM. But that’s just me.

I showed this comment earlier in the day to people of all colours, and their collective response was, it screams ‘white privilege’. Yes, a drawing of murder is horrific and hard to look at, but that’s the point. We should be affronted. We should feel uncomfortable. George Floyd shouldn’t have died like that. This is the reality of what’s going on, not just in the USA, but also here in Australia. David Dungay Junior. Kumanjayi Walker. Tanya Day. These are all people we should know about.

It’s easy to be an armchair critic and take a quick stab at somebody behind your keyboard, but you need to be able to back yourself up. Her flawed argument was that no Nazi artwork exists and therefore artwork of George Floyd is not necessary. You could just do a quick Google search, which reveals that there are in fact a lot of artworks depicting not just the Holocaust, but also other very dark times in world history. The brutality of human crimes has been captured in art for centuries. However, this is beside the point. The use of artwork during this tragedy shouldn’t be the main concern as it detracts from the central message: that systemic racism and police brutality need to stop.

There has been an outpouring of grief following George Floyd’s murder, and rightly so. We need to allow people to express themselves in their own way, and I believe in amplifying the voices of minority groups. We mustn’t be neutral:

If you are neutral in situations of injustice. You have chosen the side of the oppressor

Desmond Tutu

Telling someone that their art is not ‘appropriate’ comes from a place of moral superiority, and it’s slightly patronising. She then went on to say that I was crossing the line. Stop trying to censor, silence, muffle. If she had said that the image makes her uncomfortable, then sure, I would have accepted that. But when you call someone’s expression ‘inappropriate’, it becomes a judgment about them. There is a fine distinction here. And this is what I wanted to share to my IG story. I wanted to highlight this comment as an example of white privilege, whitesplaining, and white censorship. I don’t think anyone has the moral authority to say what is an appropriate or inappropriate form of expression in this tragedy. As I’ve said to her directly, who is she to say where this ‘line’ is, that I’ve supposedly crossed?

It’s been a hard time for everyone this year. There was a lot of racism against Asians like myself as covid-19 became a worldwide pandemic. Before masks became ubiquitous, I didn’t want to be caught dead wearing one outside. I spoke about this to my fellow Asian friends, and we were all worried that we would be harassed in public because people would think we were infected. People were (and still are) calling covid the “China” virus. An Asian junior doctor was walking home from work, and a stranger called out “Covid!” These things are happening every day.

The mourning of George Floyd is even harder because of the impact this pandemic has had. People are socially isolated. Some have lost their jobs. Some have lost their loved ones to the viral illness. The cumulative effect that this has had on everyone’s mental health cannot be ignored. To be grieving an unfair death on top of this would be so heavy, and my heart goes out to George Floyd’s loved ones and other black people in America who are hurting right now. Tensions are running high because of all of this, and the unfortunate side effect of this is the toxicity on the internet RN.

It’s not just Twitter, although I think Twitter is notorious for being more toxic than the other social media platforms. Unpleasant interactions are happening all over social media. Yesterday, I was looking at one of the Australian plant groups I am a part of on Facebook. You’d think plant lovers would be peaceful, right? A young male member of the group painted this pot in support of #BlackLivesMatter.

There were hundreds of comments attacking him for it. Some people felt that it wasn’t the right platform for him to be talking about it. There were several comments saying ‘This is a plant group.’ Others had a problem with the actual image, even though his intentions were pure. Several Aboriginal members of the group raised the issue of white censorship. Some were writing #AllLivesMatter, and swiftly taken down for it. The thread escalated and started to include hate speech.

The original post of the pot was taken down by an Admin after several members of the group had reported it. This caused even more outrage. It was later put back up by another Admin with an apology for it being removed in the first place, and that as a group we should be supportive of the #BlackLivesMatter movement. It’s a shame that things are so divisive right now, when we really should be united in standing up for the rights of black people.

I was alerted to the doctor sharing my IG story to her Twitter feed, accusing me of defaming her and cyberbullying. I hadn’t seen any of it because it hadn’t come up on my notifications (as I don’t follow her). I’m willing to let go of arguments, especially with strangers on the internet, but I do feel like I need to say something here as she’s wrongly accusing me in front of people who follow us both (and Medical Twitter can be a small world). These are serious allegations that I do not take lightly. She needs to look up what ‘defamation’ and ‘cyberbullying’ actually entail, because I am guilty of neither.

I posted her public comment to my IG stories as an example of white privilege, whitesplaining, and white censorship. Yes, it’s uncomfortable when someone calls out your behaviour (albeit without identifying you), but turning it around and calling it cyberbullying is a form of gaslighting. She’s also conveniently reminding people that I made a ‘career’ out of talking about bullying in Medicine, thereby calling me a hypocrite. By putting my name, handle, and screenshot up on Twitter, along with a victim narrative, she’s trying to assemble a Twitter army to take her side. Are you trying to get me trolled? Please research what defamation and (cyber)bullying are before irresponsibly throwing such terms out in grand, sweeping statements. Instead of playing victim and calling me a bully, I hope that she (and others blindly taking her side) will reflect on why I have called out her commentary in the first place.

Back to more important things: we should continue to support the #BlackLivesMatter movement. If you are in Sydney, there will be a peaceful protest in Hyde Park. If you go on Facebook and search for “Black Lives Matter Sydney” (or whichever city you’re in), you should be able to find the event, which will have all the details.

If you are out protesting, please stay safe.

Take care,

Miko xx

Edit: I’ve been having a lot of conversations about this with friends and family this week. My sister in particular has found a lot of great resources from black people about how to ally. It’s hard to know how to help sometimes… I’m learning new things every day and trying my best to support black voices and creatives. I love this post below from @ohhappydani. If you know of other black voices to support, please let me know!