TheGrio Daily

White people don’t care

Episode 101
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“If white people cared they’d figure it out but white people don’t care, they feel bad.” Michael Harriot breaks down key issues like police brutality, school shootings and reparations to show that while some white people say they support change they don’t take the necessary steps to actually make it happen. Supporting his opinion that white people may feel bad but they don’t really care. 

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[00:00:00] You are now listening to theGrio’s Black podcast network. Black Culture Amplified. 

Michael Harriot [00:00:13] A lot of times we try to figure out a political or a logical argument for our political situation. And we don’t understand how politics works, maybe. Or maybe we don’t understand how human beings work. But I would argue that there’s something else that we don’t understand, and that’s how white people work. And that’s why I want to welcome you to theGrio Daily, the only podcast that’ll explain Why White People Don’t Care. I’m world famous wypipologist Michael Harriot and this is theGrio Daily. 

Michael Harriot [00:00:55] A lot of times we wonder why certain things happen or why things are the way they are. One of the common refrains is like, why would, for instance, poor white people vote Republican or vote for against their economic interests? Or why do the white people crying after a school shooting and offering their thoughts and prayers, why won’t they change the gun laws? Or why do the people who say, ooh, that police beating that I saw on video is terrible and I feel sorry, why don’t they fight for police reform? And the answer is simple. Because white people don’t care. And I know that sounds harsh and some people might think it’s racist, but it really isn’t. I’m not arguing that white people don’t have feelings. Everybody has feelings and white people feel things. I don’t even argue that white people don’t have empathy for Black people or that they are pro racists, even though there is a move against anti-racism. What I’m arguing and I’m trying to explain to you is that there is a difference between feeling things and caring. There is a difference between having empathy and caring. There is a difference between appearing to not like something and doing something about it because people who care about things would do something about it. 

Michael Harriot [00:02:42] Like I remember when I was a kid, right? And I used to have to take the trash and it was like my big job as a kid, right? I took the trash out and I had to clean yours. It was like my main responsibilities as the only boy in the house. Well, every other week, stray dogs in our neighborhood would get in our trash can. And so because I cared about the garbage, I had to clean up, I instituted a system where it was very complex. You might not understand it, but I put a brick on top of the garbage lid, you know, the outside garbage can that you have the road to the street. I just put a brick on it because I didn’t want to clean that stuff up and the dogs couldn’t get into it. But then another problem arose, right? So when I would have to roll that trashcan out to the street, the garbage man wouldn’t take our trash if the brick was on top, because it wasn’t just like a little brick. There was a huge brick, you know, heavy enough to keep the dogs away. So they would just pass by our garbage can when they saw the brick wall on top of it because the garbage men did not care about our garbage. 

Michael Harriot [00:04:02] It was just like it was just their job to go down the street and empty the garbage cans. But they didn’t care about it, Right. And they didn’t care whether or not the dogs were going to get into our trash can because it was just like one little trash can they had an empty. They didn’t care about our yard. They only were doing their jobs. And if I’d made the job easier and they had to choose between lifting that brick and doing their jobs, they could just say lifting a brick ain’t in my job description. And so every morning I would have to wake up early to push the trash can out to the curb, wait until I hear the garbage man coming, and then went outside and take the brick off. And then one day, sometimes I would forget, man. Sometimes I wouldn’t hear the garbage man because I’d be in the bathroom or doing something in the back of the house. And they would just miss our garbage can and my mom would be real mad, because sometimes the garbage would get so high, the dogs would get to the garbage, and then I’d have to clean it up and she’d make me clean that garbage up even if I had to, was on the way to school. 

TheGrio Black Podcast Network Breaking News [00:05:15] This is theGrio Black Podcast Network. Breaking news. 

Panama Jackson [00:05:18] Panama Jackson here. There’s a lot of “trash talking” in this episode. So we reached out to Michael’s mom to get the real story. 

Dorothy Harriot [00:05:26] This is Dorothy Harriot, mother of Michael Harriot. Michael is extremely intelligent, but he’s also forgetful. His memory is about as long as your little finger. His sisters did everything for him. So his only task in the household was to empty the trash every day. The kitchen trash can. Michael could never remember to empty the kitchen trash can. So every night I would come in his room. I say, “Michael, I told you to empty this trash every day.” You have to empty the trasd and put the lid on so the dogs don’t turn it over. Because we had dogs in the neighborhood and they would always come turn our trash over. So every night I go to his room and I said, “Michael, I done told you every day empty this trash before it gets dark.” I remember that I told him all the time. 

Panama Jackson [00:06:16] Well, Mama Harriot, you must have told him enough times because he’s still talking about trash duty even today. All right, man. Go ahead and finish. 

Michael Harriot [00:06:25] So I can’t tell you how many times, man, I had to sprint in a full sprint. Like Usain bolt to school because I had to clean out the garbage out of the yard because the dog got into the garbage. So one day I missed the garbage bin and I didn’t take the brick and they left all the garbage in the can. And so I rode the trash can back . I didn’t tell my mom. All that week I was pressing down that trash in that trash can so I could fit all of that trash in there from, because there’s basically two weeks worth of trash. And by the end of the week, man, the trash was piled up so high that even when I put the brick on top of the trash the dogs still got in the trash and my mama woke up early and saw that trash, two weeks worth of trash strewn across the yard. She woke me up to say, “Go clean up the yard and push out the trash before the trash man get here.” And I did it because I had to. Because, you know, that was my mama and I all time I cussed about the dogs and I cussed  about those garbage men who wouldn’t move the brick off and how lazy they were. And I cussed out about like, why couldn’t we get two trash cans? And my mama said, none of that matters. Because if you cared about the brick or the trash can or cleaning up the yards, then you’d figure it out. And she was right. 

Michael Harriot [00:08:00] And if white people cared about school shootings, they figure out how to pass gun legislation. Even if the point of conservative or the Second Amendment was still on top of their trash can. If white people cared about police brutality, they’d figure out how to reform the police. Even if the break of police unions or Blue Lives Matter kept them out of that from emptying  that garbage that we call police brutality. If white people cared about economic inequality they’d figure out how to bring about reparations. Just like they figured out how to pass out $1,000,000,000,000 during the COVID pandemic, when COVID was the brick that kept the dogs out of the trash can. If America, if white people cared they’d take off that brick or figure it out. But white people don’t care. They feel bad about police brutality. They feel bad about economic inequality. They feel bad about all that wealth they stole from slavery. They feel bad about school shootings, but they don’t care. Because if you cared, you do something. And that’s why, that’s why you got to keep listening to this podcast. That’s why you got to tell a friend about it, and that’s why you have to download that Grio app. And it’s also kind of why we leave you with the saying from Black America every week and today saying is, “Nobody cares because ain’t nobody doing nothing.” We’ll see you next time on theGrio Daily. If you like what you heard, please give us a five star review. Download theGrio app, subscribe to the show and to share it with everyone you know. Please email all questions, suggestions and compliments to podcast at theGrio.com. 

Panama Jackson [00:10:18] Congratulations Michael, on 100 episodes. We can’t wait to see what you do with the next 100. Coming this February, theGrio Black Podcast Network presents Dear Culture: Tru’ish Black Stories. 

Dr. Christina Greer [00:10:40] When you think of sheer artistry, sheer creativity, the ability for someone to bring Black people together in the most fundamental ways. It’s, you know, I would say, of my four, Randy Watson’s my number one. 

Michael Harriot [00:10:54] When the news about Rickey first broke, what I heard about it is the thing you hear about, you know, every time somebody Black dies that it was gang related. That means the police don’t know what happened. So they just said probably the gang’s probably, you know, the other Black dudes. 

Damon Young [00:11:10] When I think of Akeelah, you know, I just think about how impressionable white people could be. I think about how, you know, if you watch that movie again, you know, he should have lost like three times. 

Panama Jackson [00:11:23] Where were you when you heard the story about them suckers getting served by waves dance crew? 

Shamira Ibrahim [00:11:29] It’s crazy that you mention this. So as a New Yorker, right. Everyone knows where they were on 9/11, right? You know, couple of years later, Right. It’s 2003. Everyone hears about this crazy moment in a boxing ring because that’s where dancers duke it out, right, in boxing rings. 

Panama Jackson [00:11:46] If you could say something to Ricky right now, what would you say to him? 

Monique Judge [00:11:50] Ricky, you should’ve never got that girl pregnant. You knew I had a crush on you. You should have gone with me. Instead. 

Panama Jackson [00:11:54] There moments in Black culture examined like never before. Join us each week as we dive into the Black moments that changed us. That changed the world. Make sure to subscribe to Dear Culture so you never miss an episode.