Does Being Pro-Brown Make Someone Anti-White?

M&M's or Skittles?

This question has really made us think critically. Does promoting one thing mean you are demoting something else? Let’s just take something apolitical like candy. Just because we like Skittles, does that mean that we are going to belittle and disparage M&M’s in an effort to promote Skittles? Most people would agree: No. We would simply go about our day enjoying Skittles and just making sure Skittles thrive. We are not going to limit the success of M&M’s, remove their voting rights, police their neighborhoods, redline their districts to make it almost impossible for them to get out of the urban housing projects, and try to incarcerate as many M&Ms as possible. That would be absurd.

Okay, this analogy got too descriptive and real. Now the real question: does being pro-black/brown mean that you’re anti-white? Well, it all comes down to context.

Before we get too deep into this, let's just make it clear that this topic is not meant to be divisive. This is a topic to start dialogue and create awareness for the many issues that POC face in this nation. For all intents and purposes, The Brown Capitol does not believe, at all for any moment, that because we support black/brown causes that we are in any way anti-white. We are pro-human at the end of the day. The issues that we bring up are targeted for people of color (POC) because at this time in America, POC are facing more turmoil in comparison to their white counterparts.

So with that, we ask the question at hand: does being pro-brown make that person anti-white? We can reiterate to make the question a bit more cohesive: does supporting the causes of POC make that person anti-white or racist towards Caucasians? Let's take a look at the facts.

A race based on race

For some reason, success in America has been transformed into an actual race based on race. Irony of the homonym. We can see thru data and facts that POC have certain hurdles or barriers when it comes to achieving the same level of success as white counterparts. For example, we can discuss the huge disparity in racial diversity of the “most powerful people in America”. Of the 922 faces of power, 80% are white. Why is that? We believe that it’s mainly because of America's history of white empowerment over POC and because currently white people make up about 60% of the population.

Okay, so majority rules, right? Well that depends. Do we want to have an America where the majority holds more power over the others or would we rather have an America where the power is not based on race and is innately distributed equally? Personally, the second one sounds better. We live in a diversifying America where white people will become a minority, dropping below 50%, around the year 2045. That’s why a system that bases success on race cannot survive. It will always just be a battle for power.

The flip side

The reason this question made us think critically was when we flipped the question. Does being pro-white mean that you’re anti-black/brown or racist towards black/brown people? In the current day and age, we can't help but say yes. Now, before you start thinking "Wow, what a hypocrite", there are reasons why we believe yes. For example, there has been a surge in white-supremacy groups that advocate for violence against POC in recent years. When we say we are pro-black/brown, that doesn’t mean we are in any way advocating for violence against white people. On the contrary, POC want to work with all people from different backgrounds, ethnicities, religions, and races to find solutions in creating a system that allows for more equality.

However, when someone says they are pro-white it seems like more often than not, they are ignorant in their views when it comes to POC. They promote violence probably because they are uneducated or are being manipulated by people pushing an all-white agenda. Also it's noteworthy to say they may be fearful of becoming the minority, because minorities in America haven’t been treated all that well in the past. But they don’t see that the average POC doesn’t want retaliation or retribution for the past. Instead we want to be able to achieve the freedom, equality, and pursuit of happiness that the American Dream promises.

A quick detour about right-wing nationalism

We'll be putting out a blog about far-right nationalist groups soon that includes the full story of white supremacy including the influence of the Ku Klux Klan, how Louis Beam, a Vietnam veteran has been advocating and creating extremist cells of leader-less white nationalist groups, and how that has led us to have voting bills with fragments of racist language trying to create barriers for POC from voting in states like Texas. We could also talk about how Louis Beam and David Duke (former grand wizard of the KKK) base their agendas on a book called the Turner Diaries, which talks about literally nuking all POC to have an all white world and how this book has influenced "lone wolfs" like the New Zealand shooter, Timothy McVeigh, and Dylann Roof. Not to mention, that the United States Department of Homeland Security issued a report in 2020 declaring white supremacist groups the deadliest terror threat to the United States. Most people still are worrisome of Mexican cartel or Islamic terror groups, but it is a fact that white nationalist groups are accounting for more acts of violence on U.S. soil than any other group. Ya, we have a lot to write on this topic but we'll save it for another time.

Why does this matter today?

In the context of current global issues, we see a similar form of right-wing nationalism like white supremacists among Zionists in Israel, the Hindutva right-wing nationalist movement in India/Kashmir, and the rise in right-wing extremism in Austria. The movement to ethnically-cleanse Palestinians and Kashmiris from their homes is based in racist rhetoric. They subconsciously allow themselves to believe they deserve the right to the Palestinian land and are willing to subjugate indiscriminate bombings and psychological torture to accomplish that.

Okay, so where does The Brown Capitol stand on this question?

Back to our original question: Yes, we are The Brown Capitol. We are pro-black/brown and we are basing some of our conversations on race because that’s the world we live in today. But more importantly, we are working to change that so that race isn’t a topic of discussion. So that we are all more equal than divided. It is a question of picking many over one. It is okay to be proud of who you are and your ancestral roots, however claiming that identity as something more than divine luck is ignorant. That is why The Brown Capitol chooses to speak about the struggles of everyone, specifically black and brown people because that is a culmination many different races, religions, creeds, cultures, etc. Also they are most often the ones who are being oppressed and silenced. 

At the end of the day, we believe POC should have similar struggles to their white counterparts and be given the same advantages that their white counterparts would have been handed through sheer luck of being born white. It’s also a fault of perspective to not feel empathy towards this situation. Just because one may have not experienced this kind of injustice, does not mean that it does not exist. A more equal future is not that far from us either. When we start looking past race, we can promote a system that allows for more equality in terms of pathways to success and financial freedom.

- TBC