White Niceness as the Enemy of Black Liberation

<p>This is especially true of a certain brand of white people, many of us middle class and hailing from the Midwest. We pat ourselves on the back with pride for being [Your State Here] Nice. Where I grew up, in a state that is about 94% white and filled with Lutheran churches, we liked to say we&rsquo;re<a href="https://www.aclu.org/news/iowa-ranks-worst-nation-racial-disparities-marijuana-arrests" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">&nbsp;Iowa Nice</a>.</p> <p><strong>Niceness is about convenience. It&rsquo;s about our comfort. It&rsquo;s about control.&nbsp;</strong>It can never include disruptions. It is exactly what MLK disparages in his &ldquo;<a href="https://www.africa.upenn.edu/Articles_Gen/Letter_Birmingham.html" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">Letter from a Birmingham Jail</a>&rdquo; as a &ldquo;negative peace&rdquo;, set up to keep the status quo.</p> <p><a href="https://medium.com/@elledowd/white-niceness-as-the-enemy-of-black-liberation-6ab0f81b23ed"><strong>Website</strong></a></p>