White People Explain Why They Feel Oppressed. Sometimes white people vex me. Maybe they confuse you, too. Maybe you're a white person who is sometimes confused by white people. A lot of white people have told me they're befuddled by the actions and perspectives of other white people. I hear you. What confuses me? In Ta-Nehisi Coates's astounding new book, Between the World and Me, he refers to white people as "dreamers" to evoke the sense of them being not fully awake, like sleepwalkers. Modern white Americans are one of the most powerful groups of people to ever exist on this planet and yet those very people—or, if you're white, you people—staunchly believe that the primary victims of modern racism are whites. Why is it that some white people feel like they are the primary victims of racism? Isn't Whiteness Less Valuable Now?
For some white people, whiteness seems less economically valuable than it was decades ago. Jon Dariyanani, co-founder of a software start-up called Cognotion, echoed that sentiment. Is Whiteness Ending? Empathyeducates - White People, Why Are So Many of You So Fucking Fragile? 'The problem here, my fellow whiteys, is that racism does still exist in America today. In fact, it’s alive and kicking, and shows itself readily to anyone what actually wishes to see it..' White people, why are so many of you so fucking fragile? I recently heard a term used to describe a behavior that at first perplexed me. I had to think about it for a second, and then it clicked home instantly. The behavior I’m referring to is deep indignation at the accusations I recently leveled at my fellow white people.
To sum up, I called most of white America in on the carpet, and blasted them with both barrels for the horrid way in which we white Americans have treated people of color. But oh, wow…are there ever a lot of white people (almost all of them men, I’ll point out) who responded with practically a word-for-word response: “Ididn’t do any of those things. So, as an olive branch to those of the Caucasian persuasion who took my rant personally, please accept this medal for good behavior. What <i>Cosmopolitan</i>'s Kardashian Cover Says About Black Erasure in America | Lakin Starling. In the height of predominantly conservative presidential election campaigns and a regressive racial climate in the United States, the Kardashians have been coined "America's First Family" by Cosmopolitan on the magazine's November cover.
This is no coincidence. The full story hasn't been released yet so perhaps the term is describing the Kardashians as the "first family" of social media, appropriation or reality television in America. These are presumptions and hypothetical alternatives that aren't very likely to be true with the caveat that this is a headline published by the same magazine that labeled the lipstick colors worn by all black women "R.I.P" and all of the ones on mostly white women "Hello Gorgeous. " After readers took to Twitter to express their outrage at the racism in the article, Cosmo apologized to black supermodel Joan Smalls who was used in the photographs for the piece.
But where does a magazine famous for beauty and sex tips stand in throwing presidential shade? Hypervisible Bodies: Protesting White Supremacy Whilst Racialised. By Sinthujan Varatharajah Brandon Brooks, the white teenager who filmed the violent attack by white police officers against black teenagers in McKinney, Texas, has been widely celebrated by mainstream media. Despite his young age and racial background, he poignantly analysed the racism (but not the racialised gender politics) inherent in the events. Brooks comments stood in stark contrast to the usual narrative of how white bodies perceive racism against racialised people.
In a local television interview he went on to state that the white police officers saw beyond his white body. They considered him – despite demonstratively filming the police in action – invisible amongst his black and PoC friends, who were treated, or rather violated as threats. Brooks’ decision to film the police’s actions was an act of protest. Growing up in white supremacist societies many of us have been conditioned to work hard to remain invisible. Protesting means becoming visible. Like this: Like Loading... No, Communities of Color Are Not More Homophobic or Transphobic than White Ones. I received an anonymous question about homophobia in communities of color on my QuirkyRican tumblr and knew that I couldn’t be the lone queer answering it. Communities of color deserve better than one response; we deserve guidance from the many voices of our people. We should offer each other the best bits of our lived experiences, intelligence and emotional expertise.
So I posed the question to the Speakeasy and received some tremendous responses. We decided to share the question and answers with you — please, feel free to share your thoughts and vibes at the beep. How do you deal with a white partner saying shit about how communities of color are somehow especially homophobic/transphobic? Note: some answers have been edited for clarity. check out the Speakeasy logo Kaylah made! Comic by Bug, 2014. There has been and is queer sexuality within so many of these communities that does not utilize the dominant LGBT language. Asha F.: Yes, Marisol B.! “hey. you. are. not. alone. here.” It’s Not Just Kylie: 7 Reasons Why White People Should Not Wear Black Hairstyles. Got questions about why people get mad when white folks wear traditionally Black hairstyles? Well, you’ve come to the right place – I’m one of those people who’s riled up about it, and I’ve got answers.
Many people are wondering about this topic after the most recent public example of Black hair appropriation: Kylie Jenner’s cornrows. So maybe your first question is this: Why the hell do I care about what some teenager does with her hair? Here’s your answer: This conversation isn’t just about hair. So if this seems to you like a trivial issue, don’t worry – we’re going to get to why it really matters.
But since this incident started this current conversation, here’s what’s going on with Kylie: The white, younger sister of Kim Kardashian posted a photo of herself wearing cornrows. Jenner’s using her fame to call attention to her hair, which mimics Black culture, but not to the racist violence taking Black lives. I can’t believe I’m about to say this, but the Biebs has a point here. 1. 2. 3. What's Wrong with Cultural Appropriation? These 9 Answers Reveal Its Harm.
New Film Explores What Happens When Black Girls Go Missing. What happens when a young girl of color goes missing? Who searches for her? Who tries to bring her home safely? Not the police, as the short film "Muted" shows. Even though it’s only 18 minutes long, "Muted" packs a serious gut punch as the viewer is taken into the terror-stricken world of single black mom who wants nothing but to see her daughter again, but gets zero support from the local police and the media.
After teenager Crystal Gladwell doesn't return home from school, the two detectives who show up at her mother’s home are eager to dismiss Crystal as a runaway who will “come home when she’s ready.” Lena calls news outlet after news outlet to no avail, trying to get media attention for her missing daughter. Wilson spoke to the Ms. This mom was doing everything she was supposed to do as far as alerting the police, then going around and doing her own campaign, engaging the neighborhood, asking questions, calling friends.
"Muted" has evidently struck a chord. Curriculum for White Americans to Educate Themselves on Race and Racism–from Ferguson to Charleston | Citizenship and Social Justice. When teaching about race and racism, I invite participants to consider the following analogy: Think of racism as a gigantic societal-sized boot. “Which groups do you think are fighting the hardest against this boot of racism?” I ask them. Invariably, participants of diverse races answer that those fighting hardest to avoid getting squashed by the boot are people of Color. (Keep in mind that I don’t ask this question on day one of our study of race.
Rather, participants come to this conclusion after exploring the concept of White privilege and studying the history of race and racism in the United States through multiple sources and perspectives.) “If that’s true,” I continue, “then who do you think is wearing the boot?” “If that’s true, then whose responsibility is it to stop the boot from squashing them? Everyone has a role in ending racism, but the analogy shows how little sense it makes for only those facing the heel-end of oppression to do all the work. But so much work remains. Why Affirming the Beauty of Blackness Is Not Same as Putting White People Down. 2015: The Year We Stopped Putting Up With Your Shit | Christian Gabriel. Let's face it, 2015 has been a tough year so far for a certain group of people in American society. Racism, police brutality, legalized marijuana, Internet backlash, LGBT rights, the fight for equality -- these are just some of the tough issues they've had to put up with.
Yes, it's definitely been a tough year for racist, homophobic and generally ignorant, bigoted assholes, and it doesn't seem like it's going to get any easier for them. Just look at the things that are happening all over the country. Black people are recording police officers who treat them like animals, have zero respect for their bodies and lives and are making these videos go viral, exposing a systematic problem within the police industrial complex. How dare they! How are racist police officers supposed to get away with killing, disrespecting, harassing and terrorizing people of color if they're going to later be held accountable for it? And these damn hippies with their drugs! 4 Reasons People of Color Can't Cater to White People’s Guilt – Or Their Tears. Years ago, in college, I participated in a “diversity training” simulation for student leaders.
We were assigned an identity and treated accordingly in the “game.” The point was for us to experience discrimination – problematic in and of itself. The game is clearly designed to benefit folks who are most privileged, not those of us who suffer various forms of oppression on a daily basis. In an oversight, one of the facilitators gave me the badge of the identities I already have – a Black, queer person. And as I moved through the two-hour segment hearing every racial microaggression imaginable, being “arrested” and thrown in “jail” when I expressed very real frustration, there was no “learning” for me. And none of the facilitators – all but one of them white – stopped the game or interfered. Weeks after this training, when I finally got the opportunity to provide feedback about the experience, it was the white woman who’d given me the badge that was upset.
I got up and left the room. 1. 2. 3. Do Racism, Conservatism, and Low I.Q. Go Hand in Hand? Race and the Free-Speech Diversion. Of the many concerns unearthed by the protests at two major universities this week, the velocity at which we now move from racial recrimination to self-righteous backlash is possibly the most revealing. The unrest that occurred at the University of Missouri and at Yale University, two outwardly dissimilar institutions, shared themes of racial obtuseness, arthritic institutional responses to it, and the feeling, among students of color, that they are tenants rather than stakeholders in their universities. That these issues have now been subsumed in a debate over political correctness and free speech on campus—important but largely separate subjects—is proof of the self-serving deflection to which we should be accustomed at this point.
Two weeks ago, we saw a school security officer in South Carolina violently subdue a teen-age girl for simple noncompliance, and we actually countenanced discussion of the student’s culpability for “being disruptive in class.” Why white people aren’t called “terrorist”: The media accepts that “people who resort to violence are left-wing or Arab or both” The script has gotten familiar by now: Ideologically driven Muslim or foreigner does something violent and awful, and they are dubbed a terrorist. Ideologically driven white person does something violent and awful, and the term rarely comes up.
That’s the way the latest act of public violence – the shooting, by white supremacists, of five Black Lives Matter protesters in Minneapolis last night – has worked out. Black Lives Matter Minneapolis has called this an act of “domestic terrorism.” But it’s harder to find in the news media. What does the term “terrorism” mean in the lingua franca? We spoke to media critic Todd Gitlin, a professor at Columbia University and longtime writer on the counterculture, about the phenomenon. Another shooting – white supremacist this time. You should ask them! The term “terrorist” came forward to refer to the Weather Underground and people like that.
It wasn’t just an ethnic distinction, then. No, I think it was reserved for the left, then. 10 Examples That Prove White Privilege Protects White People in Every Aspect Imaginable. If you checked out Jose Antonio Vargas’s documentary about White people, aptly titled White People, you’ll know that many White people struggle discussing race (not that some of you needed a documentary to confirm this fact).
Throw “White Privilege” into the discussion, and the awkwardness – and defensiveness – can multiply astronomically. What is White Privilege? The reality that a White person’s whiteness has come – and continues to come – with a vast array of benefits and advantages not shared by many people of Color (POC). It doesn’t mean that I, as a White person, don’t work hard (I do) or that I haven’t suffered (well, I have known struggle), but simply that I receive help, often unacknowledged assistance, because I am White.
Or, as Ta-Nehisi Coates writes, I “believe [I am] White.” And I understand why Peggy McIntosh’s “Knapsack” article continues to fill anti-racist syllabi 26 years later. Yet, when it comes to White Privilege, White people somehow become the authority. 1. 2. 3. 4. 13 Things Even More Divisive Than People Who Always Bring Race Up in Discussions. To derail and maneuver away from discussions of race and racism – especially the topic of White privilege –one method that White people often wield is accusations of divisiveness. “You are being divisive!” Many of us have been told when raising issues of race, including, but not limited to, the racism of police brutality, Hollywood’s Whitewashing, daily microaggressions, and implicit biases.
Case in point: In the wake of yet another grand jury non-indictment, this time for the “police” officer who killed twelve-year-old Tamir Rice, musician Kimya Dawson posted the following tweet on her Facebook page: “This is a pointless point that get [sic] everybody nowhere. And if they don’t explicitly use a version of the word division, they still imply it. “…life is hard for the human race. Claims of divisiveness are closely connected to colorblindness, which too attempts to take racial identity off the table. You don’t like division? 1. Steinbeck was onto something. 2. 3. 4. 5. “Two tiers?” 6. 7. 8. Leaked Documents Reveal Dothan Police Department Planted Drugs on Young Black Men For Years, District Attorney Doug Valeska Complicit | The Henry County Report. Miley Cyrus Rope Hair Buns. Why Muslims Don't Have to Prove to You (Or Anyone Else) That We're 'Good' People. I don’t have to tell Trump I went to an American University, actually American University, and got my PhD.
I don’t have to stand here and convince him that I deserve to be here. He has to convince me why he deserves to be here. And I’m not going to take responsibility for the actions of other Muslims. As much as this nation and Donald Trump and all the politicians in this country want us to condemn acts of terrorism perpetrated by other Muslims, that is not my responsibility! I do not have the responsibility as an individual who condoned the actions just because I have a shared identity.
This imposition is not placed upon white people. But Muslims have to stand here and say, “I condemn this. I’m sorry that Muslims feel like they need to do that at this point in time, but that is ridiculous and absurd. A counter-narrative that does not just negate the dominant narrative that says we’re all terrorists. So I want to be clear today that I am a Muslim. Thank you! Segregation Now, Segregation Tomorrow, Segregation Forever?
What Goes Through Your Mind: On Nice Parties and Casual Racism - The Toast. How Donald Trump is breathing life into America’s dying white supremacist movement. Black People Are Not More Homophobic Than Everyone Else. 'I Didn't Know That Was Racist' – Are You Using 'White Ignorance' to Dodge Responsibility? Odin's B-Log (28 COMMON RACIST ATTITUDES AND BEHAVIORS) 4 Reasons Black People Can Feel Responsible for White Feelings (And Why We're Not)
Beneath the Debate of the Washington 'Redskins' Name is an Underlying Truth: The Vast Majority of Americans Have a Limited -- and Often Mistaken -- Understanding of Native American History | National Museum of the American Indian. ReThink Review: <i>Dear White People</i> -- Lessons for Republicans and the "Post-Racial" Generation | Jonathan Kim. We Can't 'Get Over It': 4 Ways Understanding Past Wrongs Can Create Better Indigenous Allies. 4 Ways the American Dream Is Actually Just Affirmative Action for White People. 5 Ways Black People Experience Non-Physical Violence on College Campuses. Why I’m Done Trying To Solve White Ignorance. We Asked White Feminists to Discuss Mistakes They've Made. Here's What Happened. Black Children's Books & Authors (oumkhartoum: mehreenkasana: Four books by...) It’s not just the South and Fox News: Liberals have a white privilege problem too.
Kamilah Brock Spent 8 Days in a New York Mental Health Facility Because She Owned a BMW. It's not my job to absolve white friends of racism, but it can seem that way | AD Carson. Brooklyn hipsters fight school de-segregation: They ‘aren’t racists’ — ‘they just don’t want to be in a ghetto’ White Fragility Is Racial Violence | Amelia Shroyer. Study: White people react to evidence of white privilege by claiming greater personal hardships. 10 Insidious Ways White Supremacy Shows Up in Our Everyday Lives. The devastating decision not to prosecute the brutal in-custody death of Natasha McKenna.
8 stats that reveal just how badly the police state hurts black women. 11 Things White People Can Do to Be Real Anti-Racist Allies. "Why White People Freak Out When They're Called Out About Race" - AlterNet discuss 'White fragility' with Professor Robin DiAngelo (the woman who coined the term) Black Summer Vacation or how White Supremacy ruins everything (with images, tweets) · LeslieMac. No White Tears: A Non-Guide on Dealing with Microaggressions from Your White Partner. Poccomplaints - SRSDiscussion. How Racism Shows Up When White People Dismiss People of Color's Reality. Explaining White Privilege to a Broke White Person...
Ethnic History. Brazil Enslaved. Indigenous Peoples. Colonialism, Imperialism & Empire. Black Postmodernism. About RACISM. Africa Is Not a Derailment Tactic: Why Belittling 'First World Problems' Is Oppressive. 5 Reasons Why We Need to Change the Way We Talk About 'Emasculating' Asian Men. 7 Questions Latinxs Who Don’t 'Look Latinx Enough' Get (And Why They’re Harmful)
4 Things Your History Teacher Didn’t Know About Native Americans – But You Should. This Historical Lie Still Curses Us Today – Here's the Unspoken Message Behind It. Why We Can't Just 'Chill Out' About Racism. Are You Suffering From Racial Discussion Fatigue? These 5 Hilarious Tips Will Help.