Happy 4/20 you loons. Except the racists. Fuck you

Regarding a lot of the conversations that have been going on lately on campus and on this page, I’m a little confused and I have some questions. I’m a white person and my interpretation of Stop White Noise is to first recognize how much of our campus and education is dominated by white people and their ideas and voices, and then challenge the way in which this dominance defines our school (please let me know in the comments if this is wrong or off in some way). Based on how I perceived it, I thought that this sounded non-combative and like a good way to bring awareness to something that I personally haven’t put a ton of thought into.

But then seeing posts on this page and hearing about the response to it around campus, both from people that supported it and people that opposed it, I don’t really know what to think. Some of the comments that people make on both sides are so much more aggressive than what the website details. Some people say it’s to raise awareness while others say it’s to silence white people, and the whole concept is being perceived by people in so many different ways that it’s hard to understand the underlying message. Should I follow the website’s message of solidarity or my classmate’s messages of aggression? Someone made the point that you can be friends with white people while still hating whiteness, which I’m struggling with. As a white person, it’s hard for me to separate my identity from whiteness, so I don’t understand how you can hate whiteness but not hate white individuals when we are so defined by it, oftentimes without even realizing.

I guess I don’t really know what to do with myself on this campus sometimes. I don’t know how whiteness is perceived by my classmates, and how that perception affects their perception of me as an individual. I’m nervous to ask questions because I don’t want to show my unawareness/ignorance, but by not asking questions I’m perpetuating my unawareness/ignorance. I think that I might take things too personally, that when I hear “Stop White Noise” from certain people I interpret it as hostility towards me, rather than something that is much larger than just me. I know this is wrong and self-centered but I don’t know how to overcome it. I’m glad that Macalester has challenged me to think about race a lot more than I ever have, but it’s also really confusing. I’d appreciate any ideas or thoughts on this.

In all reality, all we have to change the world with are our thoughts, our bodies, our words, and our actions. Those four aspects are incredibly interconnected. I think we should analyze our thoughts and our emotional states and pick out only the best to share with others, otherwise we're perpetuating negativity. The only way to make any situation better is to put positive feelings and thoughts into it; please keep this in mind so you can make both your life and the lives of those you love better.

Capitalism caused the Holocaust

This page is making me reconsider my position on gulags

I feel like the white people organizing #stopwhitenoise like really want a cookie. Just by the way they are commenting on Mac Confessions post about how they put themselves on the line to get in trouble with admin by being on the 2nd floor of the CC. Don't get me wrong there is a place for white people in racial justice work and lots of work that white people need to do in their own communities but god dammit the #stopwhitenoise white ppl are thirsty for their cookie. No one wants to give you your ally cookie. Either do the work and shut up or recognize you're part of the problem.

I'd never met anyone from Wisconsin before coming to Mac, and you are all gorgeous holy fuck

Right now I'm all disgruntled with Mac for not being good enough at addressing social justice issues on campus, but I know that once I head back home in two weeks to a Republican-leaning area in the middle of Whiteness, Wisconsin I'm going to miss having my identity being simply recognized as valid.