sarahmichigan (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
sarahmichigan) wrote2007-08-09 10:45 am
sarahmichigan) wrote2007-08-09 10:45 am
Why white people should talk more about race
I don't think it's our minority friends' job to educate us, and white people probably should talk together more about race and other social justice issues. Sure, if racial minorities want to talk to us about these issues, that's fine, but it's not their job to get us up to speed.
Along those lines:
http://www.blackpeopleloveus.com/
I was thinking of an anology; several years ago, I was talking to someone blind on-line and asking how s/he (I can't remember now) was able to read and respond on the internet. S/he ignored my questions and stopped talking to me. It wasn't that person's job to educate me; a simple search engine would have given me some answers about optical readers and other adaptive devices for helping the blind to read text. That person was probably sick to death of having to explain this sort of thing to clueless sighted people like me.
In my posts about Blogging Against Racism this week, I am not in any way setting myself up as an example. I am a racist. I'm also sexist, ageist, and so on. I think we all have hidden prejudices and assumptions that we could be examining more closely. Since I live in a society that has a centuries-old history of opressing racial minorities with after-affects that still linger today, I think it's my job to educate myself through reading, workshops, dialogues, and so on, to the best of my ability. It's easy to not think about race when you're in the majority and have had very little experience of discrimination based on your skin color. Most racial minorities don't have that privilege.
In the comments on my last "Blogging Against Racism" post, it was noted that integration only goes so far to solve racial tension and social injustices, and I probably am too optimistic about how things are going or could go in the future. I think it's true that spending time with others unlike us only goes so far to dispel our prejudices and does very little to change things like the Old White Guy networks in place in most industries in this country.
I've never seen this reality TV show, Black/White:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11394595/
But from the commentary I've read about it, not even walking in the other person's shoes for a time will change a person's mind. Apparently, from what I've read, the black family just had confirmed what they suspected all along: that white people say even more blatantly racist things when they think no minorities are around. And the white Dad held onto his conviction that blacks are over-sensitive and see racism where there isn't any, even after passing as black for a time.
This discourages me.
I don't know what the answer is, but the dialogue isn't even close to being finished yet.
Along those lines:
http://www.blackpeopleloveus.com/
I was thinking of an anology; several years ago, I was talking to someone blind on-line and asking how s/he (I can't remember now) was able to read and respond on the internet. S/he ignored my questions and stopped talking to me. It wasn't that person's job to educate me; a simple search engine would have given me some answers about optical readers and other adaptive devices for helping the blind to read text. That person was probably sick to death of having to explain this sort of thing to clueless sighted people like me.
In my posts about Blogging Against Racism this week, I am not in any way setting myself up as an example. I am a racist. I'm also sexist, ageist, and so on. I think we all have hidden prejudices and assumptions that we could be examining more closely. Since I live in a society that has a centuries-old history of opressing racial minorities with after-affects that still linger today, I think it's my job to educate myself through reading, workshops, dialogues, and so on, to the best of my ability. It's easy to not think about race when you're in the majority and have had very little experience of discrimination based on your skin color. Most racial minorities don't have that privilege.
In the comments on my last "Blogging Against Racism" post, it was noted that integration only goes so far to solve racial tension and social injustices, and I probably am too optimistic about how things are going or could go in the future. I think it's true that spending time with others unlike us only goes so far to dispel our prejudices and does very little to change things like the Old White Guy networks in place in most industries in this country.
I've never seen this reality TV show, Black/White:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11394595/
But from the commentary I've read about it, not even walking in the other person's shoes for a time will change a person's mind. Apparently, from what I've read, the black family just had confirmed what they suspected all along: that white people say even more blatantly racist things when they think no minorities are around. And the white Dad held onto his conviction that blacks are over-sensitive and see racism where there isn't any, even after passing as black for a time.
This discourages me.
I don't know what the answer is, but the dialogue isn't even close to being finished yet.