No no, don’t try to boil it down to “they want us fighting each other”. Those wealthy people, and a good chunk of those poorer people, actually truly believe in the things they are saying. A lot of them TRULY, DEEPLY BELIEVE that they have to shout this and spread the word because the stakes are nothing less than literal life and death.
LostWon@lemmy.ca 1 day ago
The two matters aren’t mutually exclusive and ultimately their motives don’t matter as much as the effect. Getting riled up and indignant about some people’s racism is useless and even counterproductive-- especially compared to focusing on the source.
Racism being systemic means there are barriers to overcome at every income level. Everyone has already bought into it at varying levels, so you can’t just go “See, look, they’re racist!” Outside of a few like-minded people, the typical response would range from shoulder shrugs to annoyance at best. Many will even perceive the accuser as acting superior.
If we’re talking about racism on a systemic level, exposing that there IS someone who benefits is necessary to get people invested in societal healing. Most people are constantly tired and from their perspective, don’t have the energy to care about what they perceive as other people’s problems. Make it their problem too, and maybe something will change.