A Little Late Night Ponder on White Innocence: Paradoxes of Colonialism and Race by Gloria Wekker 

“Slavery broke the world in half, it broke it in every way. It broke Europe. It made them into something else, it made them slave masters, it made them crazy. You can’t do that for hundreds of years and it not take a toll. They had to dehumanize, not just the slaves but themselves. They have had to reconstruct everything in order to make that system appear true” (Gilroy, 1993, p. 178). 

Toni Morrison 

In White Innocence: Paradoxes of Colonialism and Race, Gloria Wekker addresses the paradox in the Netherlands surrounding the country’s dedication to equity and equality while deliberately ignoring uncomfortable truths in its colonial past and present. Wekker uncomfortably but honestly compared the efforts of trying to insert the memory of colonialism, which I am noting is a more palatable word for people than “enslavement” or “genocide” or “mass violence and murder” or any word with direct truth in it, to inserting the memory of the Holocaust into what they describe as the “general memory” (Wekker, 2016, p.4). These efforts are often met with hostility and rejection (Wekker, 2016, p.4).

Allow me to break the fourth wall here:

I like the idea of the “general memory” and how individuals and groups try to influence it in their respective communities or internationally. The “general memory” must shift across time as well, complicating the idea that there is a “general memory” if a person’s age or habitat determines their relationship with it.  Although, Wekker may simply be describing hegemonic history here. I think there’s a phantom trophy won in the triumphs of war, political or social movements, or any event or human worth noting in a history book in some place at some time. It’s the idea of being lost to history that stings more than losing to the hegemonic powers that be. Academics will defend the losers or at least question the winners’ words, and individuals feeling any sort of alignment with the losers will cover the defense on the ground in cafes, classrooms, and family reunions with one too many drunk in-laws. To be lost, however, or even knowing generally of a person or place’s existence, I believe that fear pumps the adrenaline of all those fighting for what they believe in.

Returning to relevance:

The idea of innocence is a central concept in the paradoxes Wekker describes, which I had not associated with determining mine or anyone else’s identity before (Wekker, 2016, p.5). Wekker explicitly notes the idea of innocence when discussing the paradox of the Netherlands insisting it stayed innocent during WWII despite that seventy-percent of Jews in the Netherlands were abducted during this time (Wekker, 2016, p.12). However, I think the Dutch urge to identify as innocent is seen in Wekker’s first paradox as well. In the Netherlands, one out of every Dutch citizen has migrant ancestry, yet majority of Dutch citizens do not want to identify as such (Wekker, 2016, p.6). Outside of the overt racism embedded within that urge, perhaps part of the aversion is the darkness of how the migrant ancestry came to be. There may also be fear of undeserved punishment from society.

Whether punishment is deserved or not, there is a sense of guilt and shame that seeps into the pores of the accused. Perhaps ignoring migrant ancestry while developing an individual identity is a form of protection saying, “No! Not me! I’m innocent. If I don’t share this with others, then no one can question if I’m a product of love or one of conquest.” Wekker breaks down the idea of innocent by relating it to being the desired state in Christian religion, giving a feminine connotation of needing to be protected, and containing not knowing as well as not wanting to know (Wekker, 2016, p.7). All of which are a bit ironic when describing people and nations that condone inhumane horrors on a global scale. Perhaps Wekker was rather kind using the word “innocence” in their title. Passively choosing the side of the oppressor may more accurately be described as “white cowardice.”

I’ll leave you snoopers with these rambles to ponder on. Oh, that’s a good line. Ponder on, snoopers. There it is.

On that note, it’s time for ADWC:

We are still at  11. I just harbored this photo. Wish me luck y’all.

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