follow-up to post of a couple days ago
May. 17th, 2002 10:26 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
raybearThanks for the great comments and discussion going on HERE. But I specifically want to re-post ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
cuedus's list, because it's so great, it deserves to be read, not just buried on a comments page.
______________________________________________________________
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
cuedus's list, because it's so great, it deserves to be read, not just buried on a comments page.______________________________________________________________
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
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no subject
Date: 2002-05-17 02:31 pm (UTC)BTW, I really like what those white guys had to say. Tres interessant! In _Critical White Studies_ there is this "thing" by white race traitors... maybe I'll take the time to type it up and post it... I found it very interesting.
Peace,
Quentin