Brittany Packnett Cunningham

Ableist dominant culture.

All of those things operate and it's like a smog that we all breathe in.

We're all breathing in that smog.

And that smog is telling us how to be, what to think, how to feel, what to wear, what's cool, what's not cool, what's trendy, what's not trendy.

It's culture, which means it's in and on everything.

One of the most pervasive elements of that culture is individualism, right?

It is whiteness selling all of us the idea that I'm gonna go get mine and you go get yours.

And whatever will be, will be.

And that if you don't get yours like I got mine, it's because you weren't fast enough, you weren't pretty enough, you weren't smart enough, you weren't wealthy enough, you weren't educated enough, you weren't cool enough, you weren't dope enough, you weren't skinny enough.

to make it happen, instead of saying, well, what are the systems that made it so that this entire group of people who have an immutable characteristic in common can't get the thing I got?

Why is it that none of the Black people can live in this neighborhood?

Why is it that none of the women can come to this school?

Actually, let me stop being so obsessed with this individualism piece that I think about collectivism and community.

But collectivism and community, those are traditions of cultures and peoples that whiteness seeks to oppress.

Right.

So collectivism and community is not welcome in white dominant culture.

It's a threat, right?

Because if we start working together, then we're going to realize, actually, we got a whole lot in common because none of these billionaires care about any of us.

But you're so busy hating me because I don't look like you that you don't realize our war is against the same person, right?

So that whiteness has been destructive to all of us, including white people, because it's got y'all convinced you don't need anybody else.