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.