Whiteness and America’s Fixation with Black Compliance

“She/He shouldn’t have resisted.”

“She/He should’ve complied.”

“She/He should’ve listened to police orders.”

“She/He should’ve this… he should’ve that…”

Here’s what y’all should do. Shut up. These statements are nothing but an adherence to America’s sick foundation and ideology of Black submission at the helm of White dominance/expectation. A racial superiority complex and social order that intentionally places Blackness at the bottom with a steel toed boot on top to make sure we stay there.

Here’s the root of everything we’re seeing unfold on our timelines these last ten years and have watched unfold since 1619: The United States of America is possessed with Black compliance, submission, obedience, and whatever other synonym that connects with Black conformity.

This ideology about Black compliance and submission to white expectations is at the very heart and center of white consciousness in every generation since Black people’s feet first met this nation’s soil. I would even argue that the ideology is engrained in the DNA of every white citizen (even well-meaning ones) just like the lasting trauma of its consequences are ingrained in the DNA of every Black person. Why? Because White people are so conditioned to think this way that intentional unlearning/therapy must take place to not feel an itch to tell a Black person what to do and how to do it. And whether a Black person does what they’re “told” or not, White folks STILL believe they are entitled to choose the worthiness of that person’s life. This is what we’re seeing play out day after day when it comes to modern policing in this country. This is why we continue to hear and read social media comments by ordinary white people — “He shouldn’t have run” or “He should’ve just complied” or “He should’ve listened to police orders.” There is a LITERAL obsession with keeping Black people in line with white order.

The repercussions of this “Black compliance” ideology are deep and vast — it is embedded in our schools and their discipline practices, in our criminal justice systems, in health care, in our workplaces, the criticisms of how we style our hair, criticisms in how we speak, our existence in our neighborhoods, and in every facet of our daily lives.

Let’s talk about Black compliance, submission, and the history of policing in particular for a second. In both the South AND the North (unlike what many want to believe), the original intention for police was to have white slave catchers bring runaway enslaved Blacks back to their plantations to be brutalized and punished for their non-compliance. If runaway enslaved Blacks managed to get by safely without being caught below the Mason Dixon line, White northern citizens who caught Black southerners or found out their “status” told the powers that be, and then the previously enslaved Black person would be brought back to their slave owners. 

Just sit in this for a second. White people made a literal living/career focused on Black people’s noncompliance with being OWNED. For resisting unjust treatment and insidious laws of slavery. A natural HUMAN response to trauma and violence. 

White infatuation with Black compliance and submission to white expectations is so pervasive that ordinary white citizens try to take matters of Black behavior and existence into their own hands, or they can’t even see the human injustices of Black pain, death, murder, and trauma. Hence why we see so many white people calling the police on Black folks for sleeping in their homes, for unlocking their cars, sitting at a Starbuck’s, or for selling water bottles on the corner of the street. Or, shit, for having a BBQ in a park. We have teenagers who can’t get skittles and a soda because white vigilantes like George Zimmerman are questioning the location of a Black body. We can’t have Black people walk in a neighborhood without folks like Jonathan Pentland harassing and assaulting a Black man’s very existence. We can’t have Black folks jog in a neighborhood because of people like Ahmaud Arbery’s murderers coming through and wreaking havoc. 

Let’s take this sick ideology to our larger systems like schooling. Black students, and especially Black girls in particular, are being suspended at significantly higher rates than any other racial group for minor behavior infractions. Usually for “disrespect,” “noncompliance,” or “defiance.” Likely because they’ve been questioned twenty times by four different white staff members in the same hallway about “where they are going.” Or for blatant inconsistencies in how they are treated versus their white peers for the same behaviors.

Let’s look at our health care systems when Black patients and their pain and concerns have been constantly ignored, and are either turned away or are told to comply with biased doctor orders that ultimately leads to their deaths.

So listen. The answer is no. NO. She/He should’ve complied? NO. She/He should stop resisting. NO. Our noncompliance is the reason we still have somewhat of a democracy in this place. Our resistance is the reason why this country and freedoms continue to stand. Black people are resilient and have always been resilient. For however long we grace this earth the answer is NO. No, we will not comply with being treated like shit. No, we will not comply with your racial superiority complex. No, we will not comply because your white mouth said so. No, we will not comply because our compliance ensures your dominance, and there will continue to be bloodshed because of it. Yes, we will resist your bigotry. Yes, we will call out your gaslighting. Yes, we will resist mistreatment.

Because the reality of the situation is that you won’t even comply with a change in national or local leadership in a democratic election. You won’t comply with anything that doesn’t benefit you explicitly and directly. And if you are implicitly a beneficiary, compliance [eventually] comes later (ie: affirmative action). You don’t comply with any personal accountability measure without calling lawyers or quitting. You won’t even comply with being told NOT to mistreat another human being. Shit, you can barely comply with wearing a damn mask in a global pandemic. White noncompliance is the real issue at hand. And until white people face the reality of their unhealthy fixation with Black conformity and submission? Black folks will continue to resist and apply pressure on this country’s neck.

And I will continue writing books against the grain with voices that are not compliant with what White folk think is appropriate. And that’s on PERIODT.

Note: This blog post was inspired by a friend Yolanda P. who wrote a Facebook status about Black compliance from White people