General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Tim Wise: Race-Talk is a Language White Folks Need to Learn [View all]Decoy of Fenris
(1,954 posts)What I'm arguing is that the sentiment, of "Not all X", is one that I heard commonly growing up; You weren't an "N-word" if you weren't in the city, if you were involved in politics, if you were involved in the school PTA or the HOA. There are these 'disqualifying' situations in which case one was not an "N-word", and as someone who was born/raised in an all-white suburban area, this is exactly the same kind of reasoning that I read in this article. It's directed towards white people, and it comes across -exactly- as the same type of racism and bigotry as I saw growing up.
To be clear, I think the article is accurate but misguided. It uses "White people" as a slur just as people in my hometown used "Black people" as a slur, for all the same reasons and in all the same ways; From a place of ignorance and "Othering" people of a different race. In my personal opinion, it was wrong for my hometown to do that sort of bullshit, and equally, it's wrong for anyone else to do the same.
I'm entirely open to the notion that I'm wrong. I'm human and fallible, and I'm inclined to believe your arguments before my own as you speak from a place of authority. That said, my initial post was spoken from experience and my first thoughts based on my own life experience. If I'm wrong, then please educate me, given my limited-to-no experience in the affairs of POC and bigotry (My town was well-desegregated and integrated with Asians, Eastern Europeans, South Africans and South Americans, but no one I could credibly call 'Black'.)