Anti-racism is the new black

[sqbr]

Various links I've come across recently which poke at the way "anti-racism" is used as a marker of social position between white people rather than actually working against racism.


there were people of colour in the past, too!

To say that a book is 'not racist' because it was written in the past and 'they didn't know any better' is to do history from the point of view of the oppressor to a really startling degree.

Getting people to think of racism solely as a diagnostic tool for ranking the goodness, rightness, and therefore authority/prestige, of white people, rather than as a system of violent oppression of people of colour: that must count as one of the biggest victories for the anti-civil-rights backlash.

Mommy's All Right, Daddy's All Right: Or, Why "Hipster Racism" Was Invented By Your Drunk Grandpa

Prejudices are thought of as nasty and tasteless and unrefined and bad, and of course all of us white middle-class people aspire to taste and refinement, and also to having a whole lot of smooth jazz CDs, and so we imagine that racism and sexism and homophobia and the like are only engaged in by dirty poor people, also known as White Trash.

As the child of working class parents who are very involved with social justice, and who now spends a lot of time around smug middle class white people, I totally agree with this. I get Really Sick of people whose only "anti-racist" actions are to make fun of "ignorant hicks", there was a lot of this during the last American election.

http://restructure.wordpress.com/2009/07/01/declaring-your-anti-racist-intentions-may-make-you-more-racist/

The problem with “learning” theory is that people are often unable to apply it to real-life situations, yet they can use their theoretical learning to “complete” their self-identity as an anti-racist, etc. This, in turn, would make them less likely to examine their privilege or the ways they oppress.

I'm still thinking about this one and how it relates to me and my behaviour (also still working through the links in the comments, and the links in their comments(*)). But I think it plays into the post above: white "anti-racists" can be smug about knowing the right rhetoric and thus being "less racist" than people who don't know any critical race theory, but it all means diddly squat if we're still just as complicit with racism by our actions.

Certainly, having gotten to a point where I can talk about racism without Freaking Out so much (either when people say offensive things, or when I'm accused of it myself) I don't see much point in making grand theoretical posts on the subject any more, unless I have some particular concept I want to poke at for a bit (like this one :)).

All that said, I think making a commitment to trying to work more against racism and educate myself on the subject has imo definitely helped me work more effectively against racism and other aspects of the kyriarchy(**) in practice (including the ones that oppress me). But a really important part of that is questioning myself and avoiding complacency, which this sort of thing helps with.

(*) I loved the person who linked the dirty fork sketch as illustrating the dynamic of stuff like RaceFail09 (they didn't make that connection but that's what came to mind for me).
(**)The overall social power structure which manifests as racism, sexism, etc. Apparently the linguistic structure of the word is infuriating to anyone who knows greek, but it's the term people use. And if you don't use it then I get more anti-racist street cred that you

Comments

[daedala]

I really like the links about symbolic completion of identity (which sounds like lulzworthy psychobabble, but is so true). It is particularly interesting considered in the context of Abolition as a Self-Help Movement, I think.

Thanks.

[sqbr]

Oh that is interesting. I have thinky thoughts about how it all ties into protestantism and the nature of the individual but I think I need to let them simmer for a bit :)

[sanguinity]

I know you're low on spoons right now (if that itself isn't a massive overstatement of the situation), but have you considered posting this to debunkingwhite? Because this would be a good set of ideas to throw up over there.

:: and so we imagine that racism and sexism and homophobia and the like are only engaged in by dirty poor people, also known as White Trash. ::

God, yes. And trying to get people to see that they're being classist in that, and using their classism to self-define themselves out of racism? Has felt like beating my skull against a brick wall.

[sqbr]

It was originally written as a debunkingwhite post, but I chickened out at the last second, since people tend to get all flaily and annoying when their privilege is threatened. I've been pondering whether or not I want to post it for a few days. You could post it :D (Or not, I realise you may have your own crap going on)

[aquaeri]

The dirty fork sketch is brilliant, in terms of showing derailing and how white people go insane when accused of racism. I think I prefer this to "showing your ass" (because I've become more and more uncomfortable about that metaphor for a number of reasons). I may need a "dirty fork" icon.

I don't have any deep thoughts about the rest of your post, I may have to read it again when my brain works better.

[sqbr]

Yes, it's catchy without any of the borderline anti-sex/misogyny etc that goes with a lot of the other terms ("skanky issues" etc)

*ponders an icon for myself*

[softestbullet]

Omg, the dirty fork skit. Omg. It's SO PERFECT. I think I'm going to be linking people to that in lieu of argument a lot. :DD

[sqbr]

It just sums up EVERYTHING doesn't it? I'm looking forward to being able to say "*points to icon*" as my complete argument :)

[aquaeri]

There's some really interesting stuff about constructing identity and where identity comes from here. I don't feel I've processed my own whiteness enough to say anything useful or relevant about it in a race context, though. Apart from "I'm glad I read these links".

[sqbr]

"I'm glad I read these links" is enough for me :)