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sophiaserpentia...I didn't mean you any harm, but i think the blog communicates a point about racism very effectively that probably can't be made in a gentle or abstract way.
Many of you have heard, i'm sure, of Jane Elliott's "Brown Eyes/Blue Eyes exercise," and other similar seminars and exercises, designed to give white people a taste of what racial discrimination and stereotyping is like. Many who have participated in these exercises describe feeling rage, sadness, and considerable upset lasting for years, even though they know it's only an exercise that lasts a few hours and that they can go back to their lives and everything will be the way it was before.
We white folk don't have any callouses when it comes to racial stereotyping, and so even a little bit of it stings very much.
But i'm certain a person of color would tell me that it doesn't sting them any less than it stings me... and worse, for them there's no "going back to your life" after the exercise in stereotyping is over.
I talk a lot about racism, sexism, classism, transphobia, and other kinds of discrimination, and it's easy to start to think of these in abstract ways, especially where i get into things like terminology and misappropriation and other kinda esoteric aspects. But at the heart of it, always, always, is the neverending sting. You can take the sting you felt with you whenever you read a discussion about racism, and perhaps it will all be more clear.
Many of you have heard, i'm sure, of Jane Elliott's "Brown Eyes/Blue Eyes exercise," and other similar seminars and exercises, designed to give white people a taste of what racial discrimination and stereotyping is like. Many who have participated in these exercises describe feeling rage, sadness, and considerable upset lasting for years, even though they know it's only an exercise that lasts a few hours and that they can go back to their lives and everything will be the way it was before.
We white folk don't have any callouses when it comes to racial stereotyping, and so even a little bit of it stings very much.
But i'm certain a person of color would tell me that it doesn't sting them any less than it stings me... and worse, for them there's no "going back to your life" after the exercise in stereotyping is over.
I talk a lot about racism, sexism, classism, transphobia, and other kinds of discrimination, and it's easy to start to think of these in abstract ways, especially where i get into things like terminology and misappropriation and other kinda esoteric aspects. But at the heart of it, always, always, is the neverending sting. You can take the sting you felt with you whenever you read a discussion about racism, and perhaps it will all be more clear.
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no subject
Date: 2008-02-20 03:46 pm (UTC)People need lives.
no subject
Date: 2008-02-20 07:57 pm (UTC)I'm offended by the idea that is constantly perpetuated that all white people have it way easier than all people of color, that no white person has ever experienced racism or that it isn't possible to be racist against someone if they happen to lack melanin in their skin, and that white people are evil oppressors and people of color are helpless victims. Racism exists, it happens, and it fucks up. You can't single out one ethnic group and claim that they are a complete exception. That will never lead to equality, and that will never heal the scars.
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Date: 2008-02-20 08:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-22 01:12 am (UTC)