Oh, marvelous. You’re going to kill me.: i dont want to start a flame war but…
Forgive me I snipped rather than reblog your response :)
Here’s what I think: we can agree that prejudiced people are assholes and that the actions taken as a result of those prejudice are bad for society regardless of whom they are against. Therefore why waste time and energy splitting hairs over what is or is not racism? Condemn it ALL regardless of the colors involved.
My objection to the tired “people of color can’t be racist because…” argument is that it accomplishes NOTHING productive. Nothing. All it does is allow attention to be directed away from a solvable issue (one person’s individual hatred) to a vastly more complicated over-generalized and by-in-large unsolvable one.
If people want to really stop racism, they must start on the individual level which means speaking out against all prejudices instead of derailing things with excessively academic debates about which prejudices fall under this definition or that definition. I know you and ihatethismess mean well and all but when most people hear these academic definitions of racism they do not approach them as “oh it’s important for me to understand the socioeconomic mechanics of racism” but as “oh this is why it’s OK for me to be a bigot”
(via ihatethismess)
First of all, privileged people are not assholes. Many privileged people are assholes because a.) they’re people b.) they let their privilege go by unchecked and they defend it to the death. But saying a statement like ‘privileged people are assholes’ completely forgets the fact that privilege is by and far something that is not controlled by an individual. People are either born with or without privilege. The fact that someone is white, cisgendered, straight, able-bodied, or male is not a choice and if it were, all underprivileged people would simply opt for more privilege. I’m simply saying all of this because it’s apparent to me that you have a huge gap in your understanding of ‘privilege’ and what it comes to mean. Your definition of racism exposes your privilege. White privilege. Check yours.
It is white privilege that allows you to dismiss POC’s definition of racism. It is because of white privilege that you see racism as an individual problem rather than an institutional one. It is because of white privilege that you think the words ‘cracker’ and ‘nigger’ are virtually equal in the harm that they cause. It is because of white privilege that you can afford to ask questions like “why waste time and energy splitting hairs over what is or is not racism?”.
I, too, believe that racism is a solvable issue. Except, it’s not about “one person’s individual hatred”. Racism is a whole system, dammit. White supremacy makes the whole world. White supremacy makes some POC racist against even more oppressed POC. You cannot escape it. Being white will always be an advantage. You must acknowledge this. Colonialism, imperialism, slavery, globalization. Do not forget these.
“My objection to the tired “people of color can’t be racist because…” argument is that it accomplishes NOTHING productive. Nothing. All it does is allow attention to…” Let me finish your sentence. All it does is MAKE WHITE PEOPLE QUESTION THEIR PRIVILEGE AND POWER. All it does is FOR ONCE TAKE THE WEIGHT OFF OF POC’S BACKS. All it does is bring institutional racism to light. Is that NOTHING?
It is not the responsibility of POC to stop racism. It is not the responsibility of women to stop sexism and rape. It is not the responsibility of LGBT people to stop homophobia and transphobia. So when a member of an oppressed group says mean words to a member of the dominant group, IT IS NOT THE SAME as when the reverse happens. For instance, when a white person is called a ‘honky’ or ‘cracker’ by a POC, it is essentially, nothing but a word because it doesn’t reinforce the white person’s historically disadvantaged position in society, it’s not a word used to mock the white person’s lack of power or supposed inferiority. It’s a defensive word and it will never compare to being called a nigger.
One more thing. These discussions are not “excessively academic”. Believe me when I say that I hate it when discussions of race relations and identity politics get muddied with excessive academic jargon. I hate it when things are made unnecessarily complicated and abstract. But that’s not happening right now. If you’re interested in being anti-racist/anti-oppression, then accept POC’s definition of racism. It’s not your call to say what’s racist, oppressive, and hurtful.
Also, check that privilege.
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skirtonfire: threesomeneverends: Oh, marvelous. You’re going to kill me.: i dont want to start a...
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