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One of the ideas that comes up in anti-racist discussion from time to time and I find very challenging is the idea that "white anti-racist", "anti-racist ally" etc are meaningless or even destructive terms. EDIT: I'm talking about criticism from POC in the anti-racist movement who have a problem with us self describing as "allies", not white people who don't like being called 'white'.
Note that Disclaimer 3b applies (I keep meaning to revise this and then post but always end up posting about something else instead!).
I have deliberately completely left alone whether or not all POC (non-white people) count as anti-racists and what anti-racism means to them personally. I don't think it's my place to talk about that.
So obviously there are such things as white people who are genuinely committed to fighting racism. As I understand it the main critiques aimed at "white antiracists" by POC are that (a) We think self identifying that way means we get a free pass on our own racism and (b) We think we're qualified to control the anti-racist movement. I've seen lots of POC say "They want a cookie for basic human decency" which I've had real trouble properly processing, since my innate reaction is "But most people don't work anywhere near as hard as I do!". See the allies tag at my delicious. (Which I just invented, need to go through and add it to more stuff)
Now I have definitely seen examples of those behaviours, both in others and sometimes even myself, and agree they're bad. But if we don't see ourselves as "above" racism, or as the driving forces behind anti-racism as a movement, then what does it mean to be a white anti-racist?
I guess it means that you're white, and you think racism is bad, and you make an effort to fight it. Afaict, unless you set the bar for the term so high that most if not all self identified "white anti-racists" (myself included) aren't included, a white anti-racist will still slip up sometimes and act to support/benefit from racism, and isn't anywhere near as good at recognising it as POC.
But by that definition? Most white people are "white anti-racists". Apart from actual white supremacists most white people are against racism in principle, and will even speak up against it when it gets sufficiently bad. It's just that "sufficiently bad" for some people is stuff like death camps and lynching.
Now this may sound like semantic messing about, but the more I think about it the more I realise there really is no defined line between "white anti-racists" and "racists". I have encountered a LOT of white people who in some contexts are entitled racist troublemakers, and in others are quite sincerely committed to discussing and fighting racism. Heck, I've been both, though I like to think the ratio has shifted much more towards the latter. On the other hand, I've seen lots of people who I would consider pretty racist who have still been quite vocal about specific injustices which go against their own idea of racial fairness.
So afaict the only even halfway workable definition of "White anti-racist" is "White person who is more anti-racist than average". Which maybe isn't that useful. Otherwise there's just "White person who is acting to fight racism right now in this context", so that we are all anti-racist sometimes.
EDIT: Read the comments for some interesting takes on the question. I still haven't 100% come to a conclusion.
What do people think?
Note that Disclaimer 3b applies (I keep meaning to revise this and then post but always end up posting about something else instead!).
I have deliberately completely left alone whether or not all POC (non-white people) count as anti-racists and what anti-racism means to them personally. I don't think it's my place to talk about that.
So obviously there are such things as white people who are genuinely committed to fighting racism. As I understand it the main critiques aimed at "white antiracists" by POC are that (a) We think self identifying that way means we get a free pass on our own racism and (b) We think we're qualified to control the anti-racist movement. I've seen lots of POC say "They want a cookie for basic human decency" which I've had real trouble properly processing, since my innate reaction is "But most people don't work anywhere near as hard as I do!". See the allies tag at my delicious. (Which I just invented, need to go through and add it to more stuff)
Now I have definitely seen examples of those behaviours, both in others and sometimes even myself, and agree they're bad. But if we don't see ourselves as "above" racism, or as the driving forces behind anti-racism as a movement, then what does it mean to be a white anti-racist?
I guess it means that you're white, and you think racism is bad, and you make an effort to fight it. Afaict, unless you set the bar for the term so high that most if not all self identified "white anti-racists" (myself included) aren't included, a white anti-racist will still slip up sometimes and act to support/benefit from racism, and isn't anywhere near as good at recognising it as POC.
But by that definition? Most white people are "white anti-racists". Apart from actual white supremacists most white people are against racism in principle, and will even speak up against it when it gets sufficiently bad. It's just that "sufficiently bad" for some people is stuff like death camps and lynching.
Now this may sound like semantic messing about, but the more I think about it the more I realise there really is no defined line between "white anti-racists" and "racists". I have encountered a LOT of white people who in some contexts are entitled racist troublemakers, and in others are quite sincerely committed to discussing and fighting racism. Heck, I've been both, though I like to think the ratio has shifted much more towards the latter. On the other hand, I've seen lots of people who I would consider pretty racist who have still been quite vocal about specific injustices which go against their own idea of racial fairness.
So afaict the only even halfway workable definition of "White anti-racist" is "White person who is more anti-racist than average". Which maybe isn't that useful. Otherwise there's just "White person who is acting to fight racism right now in this context", so that we are all anti-racist sometimes.
EDIT: Read the comments for some interesting takes on the question. I still haven't 100% come to a conclusion.
What do people think?
