Some “nice” things white people do that are still built in white supremacist attitudes.
I am seeing these same things over and over and over again, and white people, you just haven’t learned the meaning of the term “shut up” yet. Hopefully this will teach it to you.
Now, in and of themselves, these comments are not ACTIVELY racist. They do not ACTIVELY perpetuate violence. However, what they do is make you, and other white people believe that you still get to have some say in a “discussion” on racism, that it’s still something that you need to “discuss” with PoC (it’s not, white people never have anything relevant to say on racism, ever). It makes you believe that the feelings and experiences of PoC are still some kind of “chat” that you can just waltz into and “talk” about.
It’s not.
There is no talking when people are sharing experiences. DO NOT:
- Comment on a post wherein a PoC talks about their experience with racism to soapbox about how much you hate your fellow white people and how much it hurts you and sucks to see them ruining your anti-racism efforts and how much you wish they’d all just STOP.
- Talk about how you’d personally like all white people to die. Because if you did, you wouldn’t still be here.
- Talk about how glad you are that YOU don’t suffer like that.
- Treat a PoC you don’t know as a friend and say things you’d say to friends, but not to strangers. All y’all white people is strangers far as I’m concerned, except the token few who know who they are. If you aren’t sure, you’re not in the crew. Unlike white people, PoC tend to be much more stringent about who they consider and acquaintance and a FRIEND, especially with white people, because we’ve been CUT by you so many times we expect to get it EVERY TIME.
- Respect that we may never, ever trust you because your fellow whiteys fucked it up for you first, and don’t beg for or demand respect from us. Case in point: I was not even an ounce surprised by burntcicero’s, or mandapolos’ fabulous racist/transphobic displays, even though they’d been mostly tolerable until then, because…white people.
- We really, really, really don’t care about your feelings on racism. Not even if we’ve known you for a year. Not even if we’ve known you for a lifetime. There is never a moment where I think to myself “oh hey, I could really use a white person’s opinion on racism”. EVER. I NEVER THINK THIS. I thought about the pain of being shot up my ass by dolphin jizz once. That means I think about being murdered by dolphin jizz more than I consider getting the opinion of a white person on racism. Your opinion on racism is LESS IMPORTANT than dolphin jizz. Just. Keep that in mind.
- We don’t care if you thought someone we called out on racism deserved it. At all. Once again. Dolphin jizz is more important to me than you in this conversation.
- Stop asking us what we think about other PoC. Sometimes you’ll get an answer, sometimes you won’t, but these questions are largely just crude attempts to start shit and have no fucking value to us.
- Stop asking us about some thing your racist white teacher said to you. If you’re in a class, you’re perfectly capable of googling the information if you think it’s wrong. If your teacher says something in direct contradiction to us; your white teacher is wrong. Why? Because they’re white and get no opinion, much like you.
- Stop giving us stories about racist shit you saw.
- Stop leaving random comments on things just because you want to feel you’re interacting with us when we aren’t your friends.
- Don’t bother to step into a conversation on racism if you never stand in solidarity with us but want to act as if you’re correcting shit. At least three people who follow me I never see reblogging anything helpful or spreading the word, or doing shit for anyone, CONSISTENTLY step into a conversation just to be contrary without much to say, only the scantest idea of facts, and basically just to be a fucking problem. Trust me, we seent you. Trust me, we know your purpose is to be a lazy pseudo-intellectual fapping to yourself. Trust me, you will get blocked and avoided.
- If you’re going to correct a fact: 1) make sure it’s an actual fact and not some bullshit whitey fact, 2) don’t do it while we’re upset over racism, and 3) for the love of fucking god, do not incorrectly correct us WHILE we’re upset about racism!
- Stop asking us questions about some book you read, some essay you read, some article you read as if we already know about it. Stop treating us like magical racism gurus, and try treating us like human beings. No; we are not going to drop what we’re doing to read that article, buy that book, or start that TV show because you DESPERATELYYYYYYY need our opinion on it. This line of questioning is hands down one of the most annoying I’ve ever gotten.
- Lastly, and I’m not kidding, you seriously don’t get to have an opinion or discussion on racism. If you see a post that sounds like it’s saying “white people don’t have a right to be angry about their own suffering” when it doesn’t do so in explicit terms, punch yourself in the face until you know better; you have a problem and it’s called “you’re a white supremacist”.
- Do not step into an argument between PoC, EVEN TO DEFEND YOUR FRIENDS. YOU WILL ALWAYS BE WRONG.
Finally, just keep this in mind. Racism discussions about PoC are not the place for you to do anything. At all. Your idle commentary is not appreciated. Your derailing to focus on something funny or ironic? Not appreciated. This is not the time for your small talk, self-inclusion bullshit tactics. Stop. Cease. Desist.
Agree on all of it, though not entirely to the extreme extents, ie dolphin jizz. But that’s just me.
Source: dumbthingswhitepplsay
Anonymous asked: So it appears that there are a lot of WoC that were pretty put off about your tweet comparing the victim blaming of Trayvon Martin to the victim blaming of rape victims. I must admit that I am pretty nervous to confront a prominent feminist that I look up to greatly, but I will also have to admit that the comparison somewhat disappointed me. I don’t disagree with you entirely - there are definitely parallels, but white feminists comparing their struggles to PoCs has always seemed inappropriate.
I’m unsure why you believe that victim-blaming in sexual assault is a “white” feminist issue - women who aren’t white, cis, straight are disportionately victim-blamed, but that’s a point for another conversation.
By tweeting that discussing Trayvon Martin’s possible marijuana use was as relevant as discussing whether a rape victim ever had a beer, I wasn’t conflating rape with Martin’s murder - I was making an analogy about victim-blaming. It’s a similar analogy that was made by many, many others re: blaming Trayvon for wearing a hoodie.
The point of the tweet was to point out the shamelessness with which the media is attempting to blame Trayvon Martin. Creating an analogy to make that point doesn’t shift focus away from Martin, or “compare struggles” - it highlights the ridiculousness and unjustness of the situation. I hope that clarifies the tweet a bit for you. Thanks for taking the time to ask.
… anyone wanna tackle this? or not. no obligation. but… hoo boy.
I’m not even tackling this myself:
“Rape and misogyny are rape and misogyny, and lynching and racism are lynching and racism. Not the same thing. So please don’t attempt to turn a conversation about racism into a conversation about patriarchy.”
“I recognize that you’re critiquing the media discourse, but you’ve unintentionally, perhaps-turned something about race into something about patriarchy, and I’m afraid doing this reinforces the disappearance of racial problems in mainstream feminism.” @thomcourtney
Valenti should really just pay attention to the conversations she’s having on twitter and read the full message before jumping to defend herself.
(via poison--paradigm)
Source: jessicavalenti
Racism 101: Are you a Racist?: Start From Privilege
When you are at a place in your life were you have decided to make a conscious effort to be a decent human being and treat others as equals, you might wonder what your first step should be. I have thought about this for a while. My answer has changed several times and as I get older, I also see the world in terms that are more broad. Right now, today, my answer is to start from privilege.
Start with whatever privilege you have. No matter who you are, you are likely to have some sort of privilege. There are so many privileges out there that I would be shocked to find that there was someone (at least in America) that had none at all.
Figure out what your privileges are.
Next, comes something that many people seem struggle with. Figuring out what privilege isn’t. This is where I see people trip themselves up time and time again. Figuring out what they “Aren’t” is very important if you are on the road to decency.
Here is a short, but not complete, list of some of the things that privilege isn’t:
- Proof that you are rich
- Proof that you are poor
- Proof that you have never been through anything difficult
- Proof that you have never had a bad day
- Proof that your life is easy
- Proof that you are smart
- Proof that you are dumb
- Proof that you have never worked hard/are lazy
- Proof that you have worked hard
In racial terms, the two most commonly discussed privileges are “white privilege” and “Light skin privilege.” These are both very real privileges. Both of these privileges allow the privileged to have certain amounts of leeway in their lives. Both of these privileges allow a certain amount of freedom. One privilege is going to offer more than the other but that isn’t what we are talking about today.
I believe that it is important to start with knowing and understanding the privileges that you have because it can help avoid a few very crucial pit falls.
Example: A few days ago I saw someone write an entire post about how white privilege wasn’t real. To help prove their theory, they posted a picture of a homeless white man. Everything they said within the post was about the difficult things they’ve gone through in their own lives.
You may read that and shake your head at how silly this rational is. The fact is, this person believes whole heartily that because they haven’t had an easy life, white privilege is not real. This is a problem.
If you are incapable of understanding that your privilege doesn’t suddenly free you from negative life happenings, you will also be incapable of empathy for those who have also gone through things.
You can see this manifest itself, more often than not, in those that will try to play “Oppression Tennis” with you. The problem is, they are incapable of seeing beyond their own vision. Even though they’ve picked up a racket and hit the ball in your direction, it often looks like you are hitting a bolder and they are hitting a pebble.
How many times have you seen this conversation?
“I’m poor, I can barely pay my rent. How am I privileged?”
“Privilege doesn’t mean you are rich.”
“Well if I am so privileged, how come I had to pay for college? Where is my scholarship?”
This conversation continues back and forth. This is annoying but there is a far worse version of this same conversation.
“Eighteen Black men were killed last night. There is evidence that it was racially motivate”
“I was the only white kid in an all Black school. I was beat up for being white all the time.”
“Are you comparing the murders of eighteen people to that one time you got beat up?”
“All I am saying is that I have been racially profiled too. I am sick of you saying I have white privilege when I have been discriminated against too.”
You NEVER want to be the person saying these things. This is a sign that you are incapable of empathy. I can’t think of anything less human than that. Know what your privileges are. Know what those privileges afford you. Understand how your privilege can affect others, even if you aren’t actively trying to “Hurt” anyone. Without this understanding, you will not be capable of seeing others in the situations they are actually in. You will only be able to put their situations in terms of you. There is nothing decent about that.
If you are incapable of understanding that your privilege doesn’t suddenly free you from negative life happenings, you will also be incapable of empathy for those who have also gone through things.
This is pretty awesome. Step numero uno, check your privilege. I kind of totally insta-followed the blog. Check it out.
It is okay to recognize your own racist thoughts, having racist thoughts does not inherently make you a racist. Recognizing and identifying racist thoughts/actions does not make you a racist.
Is it uncomfortable? Fuck yes. Sometimes, it’s devastatingly painful. But really, you’re better off in the long run by recognizing your privileges and mindsets and changing the latter.
While this particular article/blog primarily addresses race, I cannot stress enough to my followers that intersectionality is vitally important in our growth as people. This privilege article can easily be addressed to any privilege situation. Straight privilege, cis privilege, white privilege, class privilege, privilege based on ability, privilege based on gender. I’m certain the list goes on.
Recognize your privilege. Check it before you engage. Recognize the differences and please don’t let them distance you. But also, don’t co-opt them as your own.
Sometimes, it’s hard to get past the hurt when you recognize just how much you’ve been oppressed. I’m understanding that better, now. Those differences and your individual hurts don’t have to separate you from others who’ve been hurt too.
Source: racismschool
“What’s Genocide?” (FULL VERSION - not shown on “Def Poetry”) by Carlos Andrés Gómez
“This. This right here is genocide.”
Fully relevant today.
Fuck you.
No, seriously fuck you. It’s one thing being against racism, which is and always will be idiotic, because blaming or judging someone by a skin colour is simply WRONG.
But it’s completely different thing when you ATTACK people and try to make them feel wrong FOR BEING BORN as you put it nicely ‘white’.
No, FUCK YOU. This campaign is not attacking white people. It is pointing out white people do not see racism because they have white privilege. This ad campaign is not to make white people feel guilty but to make them realize they have an unfair advantage for being born white. Society caters to white people. White people control the government, media, schools, etc.
Fuck you, if you think that me being born with a certain skin colour makes me privileged.
Being born white does give you privilege. We live in a white supremacist society that discriminates against people based on their skin color.
Fuck you, if you think that my life is easier, because of it.
Being born white does give you advantages over PoC. While you may be discriminated against based on class, gender, sexuality, etc. you are not discriminated against for being white.
Fuck you, if you think you’re being against racism when you’re clearly judging me not as a human being, but by MY SKIN COLOUR that happens to be white/fair or whatever the fuck you want to call it.No one is judging you for being white. This ad campaign is telling you to examine your privilege which you desperately need to do. It is not judging you for being white. After this rant we are judging you because you are a racist human being not because you are white.
FUCK YOU, if your only reaction to me accomplishing something is ‘you’re lucky because you’re white’. I work hard for what I have and don’t you dare to tell me it’s because of my colouring.No one is saying you don’t work hard. However you do have an advantage over POC because you are more likely to get jobs, into schools, etc. because you are white. You do have an advantage in a society that privileges white people over POC.
FUCK YOU, for ignoring my whole personal history, problems and hardships by non important, or not traumatic/bad enough because I WAS BORN WITH A LIGHT SKIN COLOUR.You really need to chill the fuck out. No one is ignoring your history or the hardships you face. However, because you are born white you do have an advantage in society. No one is saying you did not have traumatic/bad expereinces because you were born white. All this campaign is saying is you do not see racism because you do not experience it. You do not experience racism for being white.
— and most importantly FUCK YOU if you think that it has done anything to make my life easier, because I assure you. IT DIDN’T.What you’re doing here is still RACISM and I will not sit calmly and let it fly around, so either educate yourselves or stop sprouting bullshit all around the place.
Don’t you dare to make me feel bad because I was born looking like I am.
Don’t you fucking dare.
Racism = power + prejudice. No one is saying your life is a walk in the park because you are white. However, you do have privilege for being white because you do not face discriminated based on your race. You are not discriminated against because you are white. Your life would be harder if you were discriminated against for being white but buddy, you are not. You are not discriminated against for being white. This ad campaign does not discriminated against you and this society does not discriminated against you. Like I said, no one is trying to make you feel bad but you seriously need to shut the fuck up and learn about racism and white privilege. You have a lot of unexamined privileged. So shut the fuck up and educate yourself.
You are an embarrassment to humanity.
Brilliant commentary. If only we didn’t have to have these conversations OVER AND OVER.
Source: alexisonfire292
Diary of a would be Medical Examiner: day two
So, in my English comp class, I was told that I didn’t experience racism while I lived in Hawaii. That it was actually just a reaction from the colonization of the islands. Now, I’m not saying that natives have no reason to still be pissed about that. That’s not my issue. My issue is that my white professor Mark completely disregarded my personal experiences in Hawaii.
Look, I get that being unfriendly doesn’t count as racism. But making jokes about how it must have been a long swim and oh, look, your back is wet, isn’t that funny? Those are racist jokes.
It kind of upset me.
I had a couple of glasses of w(h)ine after that class. No me gusta.
I’m hoping it gets better since this professor “Mark” plans on having us read a lot of feminist papers.
Possibly the first time I’ve ever seen a room full of Hollywood luminaries fail to have an opinion on something. (at about two minutes in)
Awkward silence.
“not gonna take that on” one says. Yeah, I bet he doesn’t wanna explain.
The best transcription of Steve McQueen’s dialogue that I could hear:
“The question could be that why aren’t there more black directors becasue there’s obviously more women directors than black directors. I have no idea. I mean it’s opportunities and it’s —that’s what it’s about, opportunity. And, you know actors, some people just give up because they can’t be in movies. I’m always astonished by American filmmakers, particularly living in southern areas. Where they never cast one person as a black person or have never actually put them in a lead in a movie. I’m astonished. It’s shameful. It is shameful. How can you be living in a country or cities in America as an actor, as a director and not cast the sort of people —I mean—I-I don’t know. How can you live in New York and not cast a black actor or latino actors. It’s shameful. It’s unbelievable.
Why don’t you ask them, it’s bizzare. I don’t know. Why would you have to ask. The situation is it is when there’s movie-reality and there’s real-reality. Y’know, and that’s kind of crazy. You know I want to make films about what’s happening in the actual reality. And I feel it’s odd, I feel it’s shameful. Tremendously shameful in fact.”
This needs more notes.
(via lati-negros)
Source: jsmooth995
