blah blah blah blah blah.

[raybear]

Okay. One more time. I'll keep at it until everyone gets it right. I'm not giving up on you cause I'm not giving up on me!

from HERE

ten ways to tokenize or alienate a non-white person around you
(or, ten examples of the racism we witness on a regular basis)

by basil and billie--with a little help from our friends.

1- walk up to that black girl you barely know in the co-op and say "what do you think of the new (insert hip-hop artist here) album."

2- ask one of the only arabs in your community to write the article for your newspaper on the situation in palestine.
2a- then, after they write it, take their research, re-write the article and sign your name to it.

3- in a big group of many activists, say "how can we bring more people of color into our struggle."

4- in a big group of many activists, say "black people don't have the time to care about trees".

5- go up to the Makah woman at the unlearning racism workshop and say "I saw a program about Crazy Horse on PBS, he did alot for your people."

6- act like the only people of non-white ancestry in your community are the ones visible to you. 6a- assume that light skinned people around you are white without ever knowing their ancestry.

7- talk about race as if the only groups are black and white.
7a- talk about race as if the only groups are black, white and hispanic.
7b- talk about race as if the only groups are black, white, hispanic and asian.
7c- talk about race as if the only groups are black, white, hispanic, asian and native american.

8- picture a violent, irrational arab everytime the word "terrorist" is mentioned. ignore the arabs who do not fit into this stereotype.

9- look to a non-white person in the room everytime racism is brought up.
9a- make sure they have the last and most defining word on the subject.
9b- sympathetically and silently agree with everything they say.
9c- thank them profusely.

10- fearfully avoid assertive non-white people in your community.

And Raybear would like to add a number 11 way for white folks to alienate non-white folks: start any sentence with "That's not racist, because __________" or "I'm not into being politically correct."

Lather. Rinse. Repeat. And repeat. And repeat.

(And go HERE for tools for white guys (and grrls) working for social change.)

Comments

[greyandred.livejournal.com]

what an eloquent and much-needed post, ray. well said. it sounds like you've witnessed some of these things personally...

[kisha.livejournal.com]

12. When a white person says, "I'm not racist, some of my best friends are _______(fill in race of choice)"

13. Going up to a black girl and saying, "oooh, can I touch your hair?"

[archanglrobriel.livejournal.com]

oooh good ones! Oh and I've got to add:

16. Go up to a person you assume is of one ethnicity who has a couple multiethnic children and demand to know "Are they adopted?" or worse yet "Are they yours or are you babysitting?"

[cuedus.livejournal.com]

Or a Black man...

The next person who is not fucking me or related by blood or fucking relationship who touches my hair is gonna get it! And NEVER has a person of color EVER done that!

I ain't no damn dog and I do not want your energy manifested in my hair!

*hurrumph!*

[wildcraft.livejournal.com]

Thanks raybear, that definitely needs to be said more often!

[wildcraft.livejournal.com]

13- Walk up to a POC and try to guess what their ancestry is (i.e. Are you Chinese? Japanese?)

[archanglrobriel.livejournal.com]

6a...I wish I could put a big billboard out and have 6a on it. If I had a dime for every time someone assumed I was white - a thing which I find -especially- annoying when I'm in POC space and feel like the people around me should know better. I've even corrected people and had them continue on assuming I'm white.
Wrong.
Nuh uh.
Bzzzt.
Try again.

[archanglrobriel.livejournal.com]

I might add...

14. Go up to someone you know to be Native American and tell them how many times you saw "Dances with Wolves". Tell them you think their culture was really great and "you people have such dignity and are so in touch with nature". Ask if they've ever been to a pow wow. No matter what they say, tell them you have and you found it "very moving".

15. Tell someone you know to be Native American how many rugs, pots, pipes, dreamcatchers, arrowheads, Kachinas etc. you have and how much you admire Native American handcrafts. If you -really- want to make them squirm tell them about the genuine medicine bag or skull or body of their ancestors that you just bought off E-bay that was found in a burial mound or gravesite!

[kisha.livejournal.com]

16. (one of my personal faves) "You don't act Black!"

[archanglrobriel.livejournal.com]

oh yeah, I've heard that one. My response "Wow, and you don't LOOK stupid.."
*laugh*

[cruelnails.livejournal.com]

to paraphrase the kings of comedy: "If you can name all of your black friends, you're racist."

[gotmce99.livejournal.com]

ooh...I like that. I may borrow.

[raybear.livejournal.com]

"if you can list the black people who have been in your house....you're racist."

Re:

[cruelnails.livejournal.com]

that's what it was!

[raybear.livejournal.com]

i think Steve maybe said both lines though? either way, they're both true!!

Correct in whose eyes?

[supergoat.livejournal.com]

"I'm not into being politically correct."

"Politically correct" is often such a bullshit term.
What's "correct" about American politics, anyway?
Not much.

Re: Correct in whose eyes?

[danielray.livejournal.com]

it drives me *bonkers* when people say something obviously offensive and hurtful to people they are with, and insist that they have the right to say it and continue saying it because they don't feel that they need to be politically correct.

'ow! stop hitting me with that hammer!'
'you only *crunch* want me to stop hitting you *crunch* with this hammer *crunch* because it's politically correct. *crunch* i'm not into that pc *crunch* bullshit. you just need *crunch* a sense of humor.'

[danielray.livejournal.com]

heh. racism + stupid.
"now i'm not racist, but __::insert blatantly racist statement here::_______"

i dunno, man. i feel sometimes like i need a 200-level course for overcoming racism. like, i feel like i struggle with growing up in a racist society and how that feeds into my own racism like every day--but on the other hand, i'm not stupid. i know how to treat humans like humans. i know that i don't have the right to assume i know about a person's identity/race/culture, and i definitely don't have the right to make unsolicited comments on or feel like i have some ownership over another person's identity. i know how to shut up.

on the other hand, i feel crushed by the weight of all of it. i end up feeling paralyzed by the assumptions i've been brought up by society to have (and while i can know that such assumptions are bullshit, that doesn't mean that i don't know what they are supposed to be), by the assumptions i assume people have about me, by what i assume people assume i am assuming. (whee, that word is fun to type!) i think i think too much.

does this make any sense?

[raybear.livejournal.com]

yeah, it does make sense. trying to be "a good white person^TM" is probably one of the hardest processes I go through. and it's not like I haven't done battle with internalized sexism, homophobia, and transphobia, which aren't exactly wimps. plus, sometimes my agressiveness in confronting other white folks doesn't always win me favor, so it's another way I sometimes feel frozen or scared.

i think i often tend to view racism as a personal psychological phenomenon -- as behavior modification experiment on myself. the more i learn about my own assumptions, the more assumptions appear. it's like a bottomles pit, which is rather daunting and can not always be terribly inspiring and motivational. i mean, who likes to work on projects that will take a lifetime and still won't be done? but now that i've started i can't imagine stopping. but i know it's a real risk -- one day, i could just be tired, and decided to stop working on it and feel justified because i've "done so much already" so i can just coast. it's hard to stay rejuvenated, though it probably helps to have close friends who are the recipients of racism every day, so i realize that no matter how 'hard' it might be for me to overcome stuff, i'm still in a privileged position -- or at least i will always have a position of privilege to go back to.
unfortunately no matter how much the prodigal son you are, the white family will always welcome you back.

[greyandred.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think another rule should be:

Never, ever, ever begin a sentence with, "I'm not racist, but..."

I wanna add! I wanna add!

[cuedus.livejournal.com]

This is going to be a motley of things because, well, I have been studying whiteness and the two haven't sorted themselves out in my head. Ok, I have to an extent, but I might not stay on topic, but it's all neccessary.

1) Realize that becoming an anti-racist white is a life-long project. If you feel that you have done or know all you need to know, you are wrong.

2) Do not go to people of color and instruct them to tell you about racism and how it has affected them. It is not the job or responsibility of people of color to tell you about that which you already know about if only from a place of privilege.

3) Listening to rap, r&b, neosoul, soul and other musical expressions birthed from Black culture does not make you "down" or "cool".

4) Do not expect people of color to trust you because you are "an individual" -- that is merely another way of saying "because I'm white".

5) Dysconscious racism is real so listen up when a person of color actually takes the time to challenge and call you out on it. Learn, don't defend.

6) Racism is not a philosophy. It doesn't even mean you are a bad person. It is a system based on the socially constructed premise of "race" where the dominant culture have privilege because of being white and the dominanted cultures do not. You _are_ racist and that's ok because it isn't your fault. Only once pointed out, it is up to you whether you return to the matrix or carry forth.

7) Racism is not the same thing as bigotry or discrimination. Racial prejudice + power = racism. Reverse racism is a dream. The only reverse racism is really classism where richer whites subject poor whites as if people of color with a slight advantage.

8) White people compose a small part of the world. The world is over-whelming composed of people of color. Remember this the next time you go to say the word "minority" as you and your kind are the true minorities in a world-wide sense.

9) There is no template for people of any culture, especially Black people. We are as varied and diverse as any. Yes, there are some who are white-identified and some who are Black-identified, but all express Black culture in some ways that might not be readily apparent. Do not subject people of color to your racist script that says they are this kind of person and are interested in these kinds of things.

10) Work on recognizing your whiteness and the millions of things your whiteness does for you. Then, betray it.

11) Being a party to other systems of oppression does not mean that you do not perpetuate racism. In other words, being GBLT does not mean you "understand" racism. Your skin is still white and you receive the privileges of those with white skin. Trite, but serious.

12) Insist on not allowing whiteness to maintain its position as "normative" and "default." White people are not without culture, indeed, they aren't truly individuals at all. As a white person, you belong to a group of people while you are still a person.

13) Do not make spaces where there are people of color the only spaces where you talk about racism. It is most needed in your community around other white people. If you want to help eliminate racism, start eliminating it around you and in those spaces in which the voices of people of color are received as impositions and "chip-on-the-shoulder" and "angry".

14) Do not assume that anti-racism is the depth of interest to people of color. There are other things that concern us. Anti-racism is a way of living, not theory to be bantered about like a beach ball at a Sunday Brunch.

That's all I can think of at the moment.

Peace,

Quentin

Re: I wanna add! I wanna add!

[greyandred.livejournal.com]

I would add:

Anti-racism also isn't just about what you think, what you say, how you treat others. It's not really about you at all. Simply "shedding your inner racism" isn't enough if you stand by and watch while people of color are oppressed. If your state is trying to ban affirmative action, if your university is refusing to support its Black Caucus (or worse, like at Penn State), if your city won't allocate resources to African American communities, do something about it. (And when you do get involved, follow the rules outlined in the original post!