Jingwen |
Amanda. 25. Sydney. Cats. Dessert. Travel. www.jing-wen.com |
White privilege is not understanding why it’s offensive to imply that a POC is a foreigner by asking them where they’re originally from after they’ve already told you they’re from a certain city/state.
This pretty much happens to me at least once a week.
| When someone says "racist", what they mean is: | There is a systematic, entrenched, system which treats white people as advantaged and privileged and people who are not white as inferior and disadvantaged. This means that although some progress has been made toward equalization of all races, we are still far from true equal footing for all people of all races. What is needed to help with this equalization is for you to realize that the privilege and advantage is still there, whether you mean to benefit from it or not. What is needed to help with this equalization is for you to realize that PoC need safe spaces. What is needed to help with this equalization is for you to help push for PoC history to be in schools. For the teachers to stop writing PoC students off as "going to amount to nothing". For the authorities to stop treating PoC as ten times more dangerous and criminal than white people when we're not. |
| What some white people hear "racist" what they hear is: | You are a bad person. You are an evil person. You are a Klan member wannabe, even if you don't wear the white hood. You burn crosses on lawns. You use the N word even though you know black people don't like it. You would be like the ones who make the news, dragging PoC behind their vehicles, shooting them for looking "suspicious" and beating them up for fun if you thought you could get away with it. You would back up returning to slavery and segregation! You hate all people who are not white! |
| Why non-PoC want to be able to say the N word: | They think it's just a mean, unkind, rude, unpleasant word. That's all. Nothing more. Sticks and stones. No different than honky or cracker. |
| Why the N word offends many PoC: | It is not just a rude word like "dummy" or "stupid" or "asshole". It is a word that was used, for the duration of slavery and beyond, to keep PoC oppressed, and to remind them that if they stood up for themselves they would be whipped, beaten, attacked, mutilated, and KILLED. Let me repeat: KILLED. We fought hard for the right to be treated like HUMAN BEINGS. The N word is an indication that there are still many white people out there who don't think of us as HUMAN BEINGS and don't want us to be treated like HUMAN BEINGS. So it's not just "black people are being mean and not letting us say it." Cracker, by the way, does not mean little thing with salt on it that you put cheese on. It means the one who cracked the whip while PoC were slaves. |
| So think about these things before you start getting defensive at PoC. And think about why you're getting defensive. Think about why you want to deny the truth of other people's experiences when you have no way of having that experience yourself. | |
| Why do you want to be able to say a word that is sending the message to PoC that you want them to be as they were during slavery and segregation times. If you don't want to send that message. If you don't sincerely feel that way, then there is no valid reason -- NONE -- to want to use the word. |
How to Raise Racist Kids
Step One: Don’t talk about race. Don’t point out skin color. Be “color blind.”
Step Two: Actually, that’s it. There is no Step Two.
Congratulations! Your children are well on their way to believing that <insert your ethnicity here> is better than everybody else.
Surprised? So were authors Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman when they started researching the issue of kids and race for their book NurtureShock. It turns out that a lot of our assumptions about raising our kids to appreciate diversity are entirely wrong:
Click to read the article!
don’t you just love it when people finally accept the glaringly obvious? i know a lot of people that need to read this
The article above is great, as is this one on how to talk about racism with kids.
and omg don’t read the comments. even when faced with factual information, folks don’t want to admit that there might be a problem. smdh
Well, no duh?
(via five99one)
From Mamamia:
Harmony Day is a day for celebrating the many different cultures and backgrounds that make Australia so wonderfully colourful and diverse. Despite its touchy-feely name, (which has provided a source of amusement for some of my friends), it’s a great concept.
This year’s theme – “Everyone belongs” – is about every Australian being welcome and included in our community, regardless of where they come from. It’s about celebrating the things that make us unique as well as things we have in common.
…
But, let’s be honest, we need Harmony Day because we don’t always enjoy harmony in our communities. We need a theme like “everyone belongs” because so many Australians don’t feel like they belong. We need to tackle racism and divisiveness because it is alive and well in modern Australia.
Racism continues to be experienced by the traditional owners of this land, as well as migrants, international students, asylum seekers and refugees, who have often endured the most to forge a new life in our lucky country.
It’s disappointing that, while enthusiastically promoting Harmony Day, some of our political leaders continue to employ divisive language and pursue policies that discriminate against particular groups of people and directly jeopardise harmony within our communities.
The only group of people who truly had the right to decide who came to this country and the circumstances in which they came were the traditional owners of this land. Yet, they were given no choice. Indeed, many of them continue to feel marginalised by a society that has been established around them.
The other more than 97 per cent of us fall into the category of “those who’ve come across the seas”.
world history
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les mis documentary || in which grantaire gets a bit off subject when asked about enjolras’s speeches.