i wanted to keep the joe francis link up at the top for a while but when i read this post from changeseeker i had to give it up.
THIS is the one post everyone should read about 'race', the construction of 'race', privilege and how a little hard work needs to be done. she breaks down the system of race in a way that a sociologist can - and that it comes from a white woman is doubly powerful to me.
but her post also prompts something for brown folk to consider. when we look at race, whiteness and blackness as a system and not as a personal thing, then i think that frees us. because 'blackness' is a construct, too. we are caught up in this system of racial oppression - not just as victims but also as people who have internalized these lessons. it's what makes it easy for us to call another brown person the n-word; it's what makes it easy for us to erect even taller walls of us/them within our own community.
what kind of liberation could we face if we, too, vowed to not participate in the maintenance of a racist system of oppression?
anyway, you must read it. she's working on a second part and i can't wait.
Why Am I Not Surprised?: For White Folks: How To Become An Ally (Part 1)
1 comment:
You know what makes me angry. Brown people who want me to feel guilty base on something my ancestors did or might have done to brown people long time ago. Long time ago. I have not oppressed any brown person. I have worked with, and have friends of brown color. I have nothing to prove to them nor do they have anything to prove to me. Our relationship is base on a mutual respect for the other regardless of color. Sure social issues come up in our conversations, and you betcha, somebody throws out the race card and the "you're so privileged comments". Ok, I am white, should I feel bad for being that way? Do I need to try and find some black people and seek to understand them as a people? Or, do I need to just find people who may be black when I meet them and do what I do with any new friend, seek to know them. You know, what makes them tick, what do they like, dislike etc... Do I think that brown people are owe something , and are held back from accomplishments that whites get easily? Uhmmm.. you can look at that argument two ways. I don't have time to talk about it, feel free to do so. And yes, there are racists who rather keep white, right and everyone else wrong? I don't have the time to feel insecure or superior toa anyone. I do know of brown people who think they are superior than ,let say those who live in the ghetto?
No,I don't feel guilty and I won't!
You are right about one thing. Browns need to stop feeling oppressed. Every white person is not out to get you, or keep you down.
You know what the real problem is, well... it is the same problems that have been happening for years in cultures for centuries.
White is not right about everything. I wish some other racial groups with get that!
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