General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Re Wypipo and Divisiveness [View all]ismnotwasm
(41,978 posts)Refuse to understand racism or refuse to try. Or we kind of try and get into these false equivalencies that leads to your questions. Sometimes we do try hard-and trying hard is a requirement for success and become as good of allies as we can be. I admire you for continuing here, I must say.
I keep saying I come from racists. Raised by racists. Its all over my white family in many of its forms, covert or overt. Ive taken college courses in it. I watched it and not spoken up. Ive seen it and raised all the hell I was capable of. Ive made and lost friends over it. I can practically smell it. I recognize it when I see it, even when its being soft pedaled as we are the world bullshit, but sometimes the sheer stupidity of itsuch as comparisons of the N word to wypiposurprises me. This lets me know I have a lot of anti-racist work left to do, because I bet people of color arent surprised by how stupid racism can be. (My own personal journey from this environment to becoming as aware of racism and the death power of whiteness and becoming as anti-racist and anti-whiteness* as I can be is a long story
*whiteness defined as the dominant social paradigm.
I get that people want to get alongwhite people in particular are good at either avoiding uncomfortable conversations or doing this:
We arent so good at listening, or rather, truly hearing when the topic of race becomes uncomfortable. We have a long way to go.