Empty pride

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 19/07/2023 (950 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

RECENTLY at the Calgary stampede, Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith fell into some controversy by being photographed with a supporter wearing a “straight pride” T-Shirt. Since the incident, both conservative leaders have said they do not stand by the shirt’s message. However, both in online comment sections and in publications like the National Post, some have argued that there was no reason to apologize.

It’s nothing new: when things like LGBTTQ+ pride or Black history month come up, some people start complaining that a celebration of straight pride or white history month would be viewed as bigoted. Of course, some of these people are just trolling, nakedly antagonizing their political opponents without wit or artistic flourish under the guise of calling it comedy. But for those who wish to analyze the world in good faith, it is still worth deconstructing.

Let’s take a clear example. Why don’t we celebrate white pride when society makes room for Black pride? Perhaps, prima facie, that doesn’t seem like an unreasonable question. But what exactly is this whiteness that people want to celebrate? This isn’t like wanting to celebrate Scottish pride or Irish pride, which are clearly defined cultures and perfectly reasonable to take pride in.

Whiteness, however, is an ambiguous social construct. When we talk about white supremacy, it is not such a simple thing as delineating the amount of melanin in one’s skin. There was a time when the people recognized as white today, those same Irish for example, were not recognized as part of the white majority. This had nothing to do with skin colour, and everything to do with the fact that the ruling class viewed them as a useful subservient population, and also a threat to the homogenous cultural supremacy of white Anglo-Saxons if they were allowed to integrate.

Gradually populations like the Irish were welcomed into the hierarchy of whiteness. While it would be reductionist to contend this historical development was because of one single thing, it was certainly in part due to populations like the Irish being a useful ally against a threat that the white ruling class viewed as more serious. Namely, the swelling population and burgeoning influence of people of colour.

And here we see how “white supremacy” is more nuanced than pale angry men in white cloaks wielding torches. It is a construct enmeshed in the upper echelon of our society which we have never fully confronted, never mind disentangled. When we talk about “white pride” there is no culture to celebrate besides the long history of repressing and exploiting the designated out-group.

It should be noted that this is also why we find people of colour in positions of leadership in white supremacist organizations, like Enrique Tarrio of the Proud Boys. Or the mass shooter Mauricio Garcia covered in Nazi tattoos. Modern white supremacy is a nimble thing, and it is happy to incorporate people of colour who forgo their roots for the sake of supporting the overarching power structure which has historically repressed their ancestors. The hierarchy itself is not threatened by individual people of colour rising within its ranks, but only by widespread bottom-up movements which would lead to power and influence being unseated from the majority white population, to be redistributed among marginalized populations.

Now, straight pride is not a perfect analog to white pride. But it comes from the same privileged place of trying to reassert the already dominant social order in the face of a perceived challenge from those who have been historically marginalized. The LGBTTQ+ community derives the pride they want to celebrate from having to overcome obstacles which mainstream society has historically, and still in the contemporary, put in front of them. To simply exist in the public sphere as their authentic selves is a challenge for which they receive pushback, and so they celebrate their victories in that continuing uphill battle.

Whereas straight pride is just more of the pushback, masquerading as either a misguided appeal for fairness or humourless bitter jokes. Broadly conceived of as the social norm, there is no straight culture to celebrate except in contrast to, at best not being a member or the LGBTTQ+ community, or at worst being an opponent of it. This is a source of pride we should make space for?

A certain segment of people love to go on about how participation trophies ruined millennials. But when I hear talk of straight pride and white history month, all I hear is people asking for a participation trophy to place proudly on their mantel.

Alex Passey is a Winnipeg-based author.