How NOT to be insane when accused of racism

[sarahmichigan]

I got pointed at this blog entry from my body_impolitic feed:

http://www.amptoons.com/blog/archives/2005/12/02/how-not-to-be-insane-when-accused-of-racism/

Short version: Don't make it a whacking huge deal if you say something racist, or something others perceive as racist. Apologize, move on, and consider the criticism seriously so that you can improve your thinking, if need be.

Comments

[pstscrpt.livejournal.com]

It seems to take it as a given that it's okay to throw slurs around, and that only the person doing the accusing might be in the right at being offended. I'm sorry, but no.

[sarahmichigan.livejournal.com]

It seems to take it as a given that it's okay to throw slurs around I'm not sure how you got that from this link...

It seems to take it as a given that ... only the person doing the accusing might be in the right at being offended

It did? I thought #4 covered the point that not all accusers will always be in the right. Or are you saying something about it being OK to be offended by the accusation of racism.

I'm sorry-- I'm not being purposely dense. I'm having trouble parsing your comment.

[pstscrpt.livejournal.com]

Or are you saying something about it being OK to be offended by the accusation of racism.
Yes, basically. The article doesn't seem to consider that unfounded accusations are offensive, themselves.

[sarahmichigan.livejournal.com]

I didn't take the blog entry as an authoritative guide to "how to react to accusations of racism" but I did think it was food for thought.

I wouldn't get offended if someone pointed out that something I *said* sounded racist, but might if they accused *me* of being racist. Though, I think in this country especially, none of is is completely free of racial/ethnic biases, so I'm always open to the idea that I have racist ideas/attitudes I'm not aware of.

[lefthand.livejournal.com]

That was pretty much my read on it as well.

[windswept.livejournal.com]

Very interesting post - I don't completely agree, but I do agree that being defensive never ends well.

[lefthand.livejournal.com]

Interesting how there isn't an option for simply dismissing the accusation as a personal attack. In fact, the most neutral option is to simply take without reaction. There is no place for the accusation to be dealt with as an act of aggression.
When someone starts slinging around the term "racist", my first response is usually to tell the person to go fuck themself. The reason being is that I have had more than a few people play that as a trump card in an argument. It's is usually meant both as an insult and as a deft way to completely disregard everything you have said up until this point (sexist falls into the same realm, an irrefutable accusation). Most people know this and avoid using the term as you would avoid using cocksucker, sodomite, pervert and addict (all of which are true but have no bearing on the subject at hand).

True story: I was in a class where a black speaker was explaining why all white people are racists who seek only to oppress black people (note: not minorities, racist almost exclusively refers to anti-black). One of my classmates trotted out the liberal activities of his pastor. The speaker chuckled and say "He sounds alright for a white boy". I stood up and demanded an apology since not only did she cite the man as a "a credit to his race" she used a term (white boy)that on the streets meant you better put up your hands or run. She refused to apologize since black people can't be racist, by definition. I got a C+ in that class.

[pstscrpt.livejournal.com]

black people can't be racist, by definition
I do see where the people who say that are coming from, but it applies to class racism. It doesn't make sense to say that individual black people can't be racist because black people as a class can't be racist.

[pstscrpt.livejournal.com]

Damn, that can be parsed two ways, can't it. Let's try this:

Given that black people as a class can't be racist (it's debatable, but I'm not willing to say that it's wrong), you still can't draw the conclusion that individual black people can't be racist.

[sarahmichigan.livejournal.com]

Yes, I know all about the "race card."

I don't think the blogger was intending to cover every base; I think he (she?) was just pointing out that people get really defensive when someone points out that something they've said sounds racist, or they have an attitude about some subject that sounds racist, and that better alternatives to knee-jerk defensiveness exist.

I also replied to pstscrpt above on the issue of being offended by accusations of racism.