... "What if the Roles Were Reversed?"

In a world where white supremacy has only transformed, grown, and manifested itself in new spaces since the end of the institution of chattel slavery, the outcome in Derrick Bell and Reggie Hudlin’s short film Space Traders doesn't seem very unrealistic at all. Although the likelihood of an alien nation becoming invested in America’s Black citizens enough to want to trade them for a once in a lifetime chance to actually “Make America Great Again”, the message of the short still rings eerily true and realistic to the current social and political state of our country. The conversations the movie sparked in our class discussion was also interesting, where my section focused on asking a phrase typical of white Americans who are still ignorant to believe in reverse racism— what if the roles were reversed? Playing into this role reversal question in our simulated instance provoked an actual, beneficial discussion on the standing racial dynamics we face and allowed us to imagine a world without white people for a moment. If anything else, the discussion provided plenty of moments of laughter aside from the very real moments where we were forced into a position to weigh some of the same options as the white people in the movie— placing ourselves in the shoes of perpetuating unjust, institutional power for a brief moment.

Although we didn't actually have a real decision to weigh in on where white people would suddenly disappear and our country would receive an environmental and societal makeover in which we would all live in peace and sheer happiness, what exactly were we giving up if we were to vote “yes” to the trade? The difficulties of this question and the magnitude of the decision made us think of not only our own likely thought process but that of our black family, friends, and community members of all ages that may make their decisions for different reasons. We followed this by asking many other important questions to one another:

What do white people give us that we don’t already have? 

What exactly is whiteness? — and if it is the perpetration of an attitude that extends beyond the characteristics of one's skin, would members of other racialized groups also need to disappear if they contribute to upholding the power of whiteness as a multicultural project?

What role will colorism play in our decision to decide who is white and who is not? — would there be something like the “paper bag test” used in the film to tell us? Or would we focus more on whiteness as an attitude one carries and an institution one happily benefits from?