With white supremacy and colonialism’s influence on much of the world, people of color are able to come together under the premise that we all face similar injustices. The idea that we should band together to defeat structural and systematic oppressions is a near utopian ideal because in reality individual groups of color are fighting one another in the “Oppression Olympics.” Instead of coming together to rejoice in our commonalities and celebrate our differences, we’re constantly in this battle of “who has it worse.” The results of this battle typically end without a clear winner because there isn’t supposed to be a winner of any such competition. Injustices aren’t something to be fought over–unless it’s to stop the injustices. There’s no point in fighting over who has it worse when collectively it’s very clear that something needs to change.
POC solidarity (solidarity between people of color) is often regarded as a myth because of the aforementioned fight over who has it worse. I’ve experienced this in person, often during class discussions of race where a non-black person of color mentions “it’s not just black people though–it’s ____ (fill in minority of color here) too.” The problem with this statement is that it’s inherently antiblack. The reality is that almost every nation of this planet is antiblack in some way. The discussion occurring beforehand isn’t saying that only black people experience whatever injustice is up for debate. Often it’s this misconception that has non-black people of color on the offensive about who has it worse. Discussions about Black Lives Matter aren’t in any way, shape or form saying that black people’s experiences with oppression are worse than anyone else’s. Just because the discussion is centered on the systematic oppression or brutal murder black people face everyday that doesn’t mean other people of color’s issues aren’t important. It’s just that the discussion in that moment as it exists is about black people.
Going hand in hand with such problems is when the movements of other POC undermine black movements. An example of this is in movements titled (Blank)Lives Matter. While this may seem harmless and likely doesn’t do as much damage as other forms of determent, it does deter the BLM movement. A movement created by black people for black people should stay just that–black. Of course this doesn’t mean that BLM isn’t in support of other movements working towards justice for other groups of color (or not color). Movements that piggy-back on anything black created take attention away from what was created to help black people. It’s best to bring attention to your own movement without taking away from anyone else’s.
To bring this to a close, I in no way belive POC solidarity isn’t beneficial in any way. It always helps when you can look to another POC in the room and bond over shared/similar experiences. It can, however, be difficult to do that when you’re forced to fight not only the structural oppression you face everyday but also the people you should be able to relate to.