Link: http://archive.today/JPHRB

This video posted on Twitter shows a Black man punching a White woman in the face and knocking her to the ground following a very brief verbal dispute. The woman came to confront the man about hitting her sister some time before this video was filmed. The man shouted back at her claiming he didn’t hit the sister...but proceeded to punch this woman in the face.

At this point, Black Twitter seems to be having a field day. Many of which are laughing at the woman for being hit, blaming her for being punched by an aggressive man, and dismissing the issue because of her race. While some people are calling out the hypocrisy, they’re being drowned out by the laughter and the defense of the man coming primarily from other Black men.

As a Black woman, I find this horrifically upsetting. The video was posted by another Black woman laughing at the White woman who was punched as she boasts about watching the video over and over. To put it simply, I am disgusted. The man towered over her, screamed in her face, and punched her at full force when she never put her hands on him. The men in the video separated the two but didn’t bother to protect this woman. One woman helped pick her up off the ground and others watched in shock. There were so many things wrong with how this was handled but first and foremost, no one should find this even remotely funny.

What bothers me most is that if a Black woman was hit, other Black women online would be rushing to her defense, not laughing at her like they’re doing to this White woman. Solidarity is a two way street. We can’t expect White women to care about our issues if we laugh at them for being victims of violence, especially at the hands of Black men. The actions of these men, while they aren’t our fault, it is still our responsibility to call them out for their violent behaviors as members of this community and as humans with basic standards of decency. Moreover, just because he hit a White woman doesn’t mean he wouldn’t hit one of us. Violence against one woman should be viewed as violence against the collective. We should be trying to help this woman and find measures to prevent this from happening again.

Another thing that annoys me is that he is actively harming someone and no one is doing anything about it. I want to know if the police were called because this situation definitely warrants it. There is so much discourse online criticizing women for calling the police on their abusers or assailants, especially if they’re Black men, due to past instances of police brutality that have been documented. However, this situation definitely calls for police attention. What else is she to do? Just take the punch and do nothing? How is that fair? If you ever suggest calling the police on a Black man engaging in violent activities online, you get vilified for it even if he has it coming.

These things frustrate me with Black Twitter so much. I remember when Christine Englehardt was raped and murdered by two Black men during spring break this year, many people (especially those with high followings online) just laughed or shrugged it off because she was a White woman. Why does her race make people think she was deserving of such gratuitous violence?

I understand Black people having apprehensions about White women because of our relationship historically (i.e. racism, weaponizing fragility, etc.) but you can critique them without imposing violence on them and without ignoring violence against them. White women deserve to live and be safe just like everyone else no matter what their societal status or privilege they have. They are not deserving of such vitriol just because they’re “Karens” or White women you don’t like.