Baby-stepping away from racism

[Garrett Fitzgerald]

I just thought I'd take this opportunity to point at this post by LJ's paradox_dragon. She talks about coming to terms with white privilege, and how people can acknowledge and change their own racism. I don't usually cross-post from my blog, but I thought it could kick off an interesting discussion in this crowd. :-)

[tori]

Wow. That was an amazing post. So many intriguing things to be said about that. Very ... comprehendible and really well said points.

It would certainly kick off a on-going discussion. White privileges, black rights... Feminism. Homosexuality. Which all, could lead into a horridly bloody and argumnentative discussion if something happened. xD But, GF, very nice link. I've added it to memories.

There is one comment, the 7th down from the top, by chienne_folle that is also very nice. In regards to homosexuality which, I had never looked at quite that way, but I completely agreee with it by that it's 'politically', per se, correct. In my opinion, at least.

Anyways, the superbowl is on. Not that I'm watching it.

Thanks Garrett.

[seabiscuit1009]

I agree with tori...wow. I think I'm going to print that out and bring it into this new class I just started for second semester called Race and Literature (with more emphasis on the race part than the literature part.)

I've just started the class, but already it feels like I'm realizing more and more about the fact that there are people in this world who don't live lives like I do simply because of their skin color. I go to a high school that is extremely diverse; we've got everyone from Asians to Middle-Eastern to blacks in our school. (I use the term blacks lightly, and will explain why; if you prefer I call you something other than black, tell me, and I'll do it. I call people what they want to be called, African-American, black, or any other name you can think of. It's your choice.) Despite this, it's hard for me to imagine people being given a hard time because of their race; for example, one Middle-Eastern girl in my class talked about how, simply because she's Middle-Eastern and had bought a last minute ticket to fly to New York from the Middle-East, she was intensely searched while flying over the summer.

I guess...what I'm trying to say is, whether you're white, black, or green, you have to learn to be tolerent of other people. I've been in situations with black friends where they were in the minority; on the other hand, I've been in situations where I'm the minority. Neither situation is comfortable.

I'm going to tell you guys what my homework for my Race and Literature class was this weekend. All weekend, we had to think about whether we fit our own race; another way of wording it would be "Are we acting white/black/Asian/etc.?" It was an interesting homework for me-it made me aware of what I was doing, and what people around me were doing, and if it "fit" their racial stereotype. Give it a try sometime, it's interesting.

Well...I can guarantee in a few weeks/days, I could have a lot more to say on the subject, but right now I've got things (aka math homework) to worry about.

[Emi]

That is such a great post!! It's something that should be in print in everyone's home. I love love love the goals she wrote.

I have to admit that I see a lot of racism where I live. And it's not like plain out yeah racism it's in secret... I've seen it a lot with my grandmother. She's Japanese, and came here legally and got her citizenship and all, but people would look at her like she's disgusting. I always felt bad for her because people took advantage of her all the time. At grocery stores, in the mall, at restaraunts you name it. The sad part is, I've learned to deal with it. I don't really do anything about it anymore when people say dumb remarks about my race because I know if I do, I'm feeding in to it.

So, let them make themselves look stupid...

[Rubywolf]

I do not agree with this part, although it's genrally a nice post.

To keep your marriage brimming
With love in the loving cup,
Whenever you're wrong, admit it;
Whenever you're right, shut up.

So just let your husband control you, and never speak up? What's that about? Activisim begins in the home.

[Garrett Fitzgerald]

It's not a question of control. Besides, who says that's addressed at the women? :-)

There's a quote that applies here. I can't remember where it originally comes from (Bujold, maybe?), but someone appropriated it wholesale for their fanfic.

'...what do you do if you've had a fight with someone and they're incredibly wrong and you're right?'

'Apologize immediately.'

'What?'

'If I care at all for them, at any rate. Particularly if recent circumstances have proven me to be correct. Unless it's a life-or-death issue, what's the point in making a fuss over it? Of getting all righteous? All it does is make people less likely to listen to you.

'Yes, but what do you do if you find out you were wrong?'

'Same thing. Why change a tactic that works?'

'But I can't do that! It'll make me look like a fool!'

'So you're saying that it's not all right to apologize when you're wrong?'

[Rubywolf]

That doesn't make any sense. Saying that you are wrong when you are right FORCES the other person to believe that they are indeed right, when in fact they're wrong. Then, they'llgo out into the world believing that they are right and make a fool of themselves when the mistake comes up.


For example:

My friend: your shirt's inside out.
Me: No it's not.
My friend: Ok.
Me: goes into café, meets person that she is trying to impress Hi
Person I'm trying to impress: Hi. Your shirt's inside out.
Me: looks downCrap.

It's ridiculous!

[Garrett Fitzgerald]

Yes, but then, hopefully, you'll understand that you need to not be as sure of yourself next time. :-)

In my experience, there's almost always something that you can sincerely apologize for, even if you think you're right on the rest of the matter.

[Rubywolf]

But apologizing for something that you have sincerely done wrong is a lot different than "shutting up."


I detest racist stereotypes. Probably the worst is that whites are racist towards blacks, but it's a very common one. To examine this problem we should first look at what is white and what is black. My younger brother, aged five, went to kindergarten with 27 "black" children. He was the only "white" child. His best friends were from taht class and he went to the other kids birthday parties. Some boys from the class came to his. When he drew pictures he colored himself dark brown. He looked in the mirror one day and said, "Mom, when will my skin turn brown?" After she explained that the color of your skin is like the color of your hair and doesn't matter, he said ok and went in his room. He cried himself to sleep that night because he wanted to have brown skin. A week later, he colored his face black with magic marker.
the first baby step away from racism is the acceptance that there are no races, no breeds. We are human beings, and that's it.

[Emi]

Aww Ruby, I probably would have taken a picture of your brother like that. I think that's cute in a crazy sort of way.

One time when my sister was in kindergarten and she was drawing a picture of herself. She's a little dark, because we're Japanese and they tend to have really tan skins, (with an exception of me) anywho, she was coloring with a yellow crayon, like most of us do, and the teacher grabbed the crayon out of her hand and handed her a brown one. She said something like this is your skin color. That's really rude... I don't know, that's what I feel like.

Now, me? I kind of get hit with Chinese people because we have a bunch of Chinese folks living in my town. The most common are "Are you Chinese?" Noo... I'm American. But if you want to be specific, I'm three quarters Japanese and one quarter American. Ha, it's annoying... but we have limited amounts of minorities in my school so that's probably why. I would say there at least seven or eight African Americans and five Asians? And at least nine or ten Hispanics. I don't know... It's weird.

[Rubywolf]

Emi- Wow. That teacher has got problems. To yank a crayon out of a kids had because they are coloring their skin "wrong"? That's ridiculous!

I wonder if there become any tensions about race when a "white" cild is adopted by a "black" family when he/she is very young? Does he/she grow up wishing that he/she was "black"?

[dorotheia]

Ruby,
About the poem...
I think you're right... but you're also wrong. Look, have you heard of rubbing another person's nose in their mistakes? We all do it; it's really mean. "I told you so!" "See? I was right, wasn't I?"
I think that's what it means. When you're right, you should speak up; but when the other person refuses to believe you, flying in the face of reason, then you should keep quiet. Another useful folk lore: the hand in the fire teaches more than the reprimand from the sire. (Okay, I made up the rhyme, but the principle is the same. A real mistake teaches better than any amount of warning will do.) Let him or her make mistakes, unless those mistakes harm others; and when they make their mistake, don't say anything

[Emi]

Thats an interesting question Ruby, but I do agree with what dorotheia said. They'd probably won't see what the whole deal is about them being a different race than their parents. I don't even think they'd notice they were different until they got older. Sure, other people would react weird about it, but I think the kid wouldn't understand fully until he was in like middle or high school.