---------
Racism is not just about color. I repeat. Racism is not just
about color. When we tell these clueless folks on Tumblr that racism is
prejudice + power, we should break down that power into easy-to-comprehend
nuggets for better retention:
Prejudice: the ideology
that Group B is inherently superior to Group A, and having biases about Group A
simply for being Group A.
How is this prejudice supported and substantiated?
Colorism: the
practice of believing that one is superior to another on the basis of skintone
and then creating a hierarchy based on the quality of the person’s color. Many
people believe that racism is only discriminating against someone because they
are of a different color, but this is just one aspect of it. Colorism and
prejudice become everything else down the line.
Ethnocentrism:
the ideology that all ethnic cultures outside of your own are of lesser value
and importance than your own and that yours is of utmost relevance to the
world. This includes every part of a culture, such as language, behavior,
religious beliefs, customs, folkways and cuisine.
Vigilantism: the
act of Group B carrying out hate crimes against Group A, via social ills such
as domestic terrorism, tarring-and-feathering and rape (ex.: Ku Klux Klan)
Racialized Sexism: the belief that the genders of one’s own
ethnic group/race are superior to the genders of another group. This can be
reinforced by pitting the genders from both racial groups against one another
to create a hierarchy of sexual and ethnic privilege, a combined weapon. Within
racialized sexism, certain punishments and rewards are put in place to make
sure that people of the oppressed group, Group A, can never rise above their
place in the hierarchy. Example? It was perfectly acceptable for a White man to
rape an Indigenous woman because Indigenous women were not considered human and
thus not women.
Only White women were
considered human and worth saving. For men to be the victims, it has to come
from a place of repression, not oppression, because men are repressed by the
patriarchy rather than oppressed. Example? White folks created the myth that
Black men were lascivious half-devil monsters who wished to rape White women,
so the consequences of a Black man even daring to so much as look at a White
woman would mean instant death. Also, a White woman had the power to
immediately cry “rape!” at his expense, even if he: (a) didn’t make an advance
and (b) was being molested by her in the first place
Number one, he’s Black so that’s already a strike against
him. Number two, he can’t claim “rape” because the patriarchy says that: (a)
men can’t be vulnerable and the racism says that (b) Black people are not human
and cannot be victims of anything they didn’t deserve. The same story goes for
every race/ethnicity of man and woman in the hierarchy.
This kind of thinking also allows people in Group B to
believe that they should have willing & ready sexual access to the bodies
of Group A at all times, and if Group A denies them this right, it is “reverse
racism”. It’s not reverse racism. Group A just don’t like your racist ass and
wants you to stop turning their ethnic background into a Halloweeny fetish.
Supremacism: a
more concentrated form of prejudice (which is passive), supremacism is an
active philosophy that advocates for the legalized defamation of other ethnic
groups to be beneath one’s own on the social ladder. Supremacism is often
carried out publicly and loudly and is meant to shape the minds of the supposed
superior race into believing these teachings through various mediums. Some
mediums of where supremacy is used are in familiar ones such as film,
television and literature.
Genocide Culture:
genocide culture is when you take supremacism to a more violent, consequential
level. If Group B deliberately raids, rapes, destroys and exterminates folks in
Group A, this is genocide culture. This is ethnic cleansing. Genocide culture
becomes genocide denial down the years after full oppression has taken a
foothold. Examples of genocide culture are: the Holocaust, the Eugenics
Movement, the Trail of Tears.
Institutionalized
Discrimination: the act of denying persons of the undesirable group equal
access into social facilities, or making it intensely more difficult for
persons of Group A to maintain sovereignty in the world because Group B denies
them equal treatment. This can happen anywhere, anyplace & anytime, but
when discrimination is legalized, such as in Apartheid Laws of South Africa, it
is then institutionalized exploitation. Discrimination will undeniably have a negative
effect on the class system as well, because climbing the social ladder will be
far more difficult on purpose. Even when legalized discrimination is taken
down, cultural discrimination still takes place, and is strengthened by biases
in the collective cultural consciousness of the more powerful racial group,
Group B.
Hate Speech: Anyone
can practice hate speech, but the cultural and social severity of said hate
speech is conditional on the ethnicities of the persons in question. Prime
examples of hate speech within racist contexts are ethnic slurs such as:
nigger, squaw, wetback, slanty-eye, etc. These words come directly from the
institutions that have sanctioned racist
acts a normal way of life. Should the people these words are directed at, Group
A, then begin to use words against Group B, this is not racism, this is hate
speech. The associations between words like “nigger” and “spic” carry more
weight than the associations between words like “honky”. Although it isn’t nice
to call anyone an ethnic slur, for a privileged person of Group B to
deliberately use such words against Group A holds more consequences. Such terms
cannot be removed from their oppressive contexts, especially since the racism
in the society is still ongoing.
Privilege-Granting or
Favoritism: Because all of society is arrayed against Group A, Group B then
reaps the benefits of this by being allowed to be the center of everything in
the society. People of Group B will be granted special permissions for everyday
things like job offerings and representations in the media, because Group B is
the standard by which everyone must measure themselves in the society. This
thing, called privilege, seeps into EVERY single aspect of the society, even in
places where people of Group A & Group B may have some oppression in
common, such as being Women or LGBT. And even though they may share this
oppression in common, people of Group B will still maintain their power because
of their race. As a reaction to this, Group A is forced to either: (a) be eternally
subservient to the wishes of Group B or (b) create their own safe spaces and
niche groups where their community can be uplifted (HBCUs, Tribal Colleges, PoC
organizations, etc.)
Conditionalism:
when oppressed groups within the oppressor group (Group B) are discriminated
against and dehumanized. Example? The oppression of Anglo-Americans towards the
Irish. Conditionalism manifests when oppressed groups within the oppressor
group are given a choice: (a) accept the terms of their fate or (b) work towards
freeing themselves of their lower status. How do they work towards freeing
themselves of their lower status? By oppressing Group A. Example? Irish folks
were not considered “white”, but “white negroes” and were seen equally as
horrid as Blacks, but Irish folks were able to achieve their Whiteness by
performing Blackface at the expense of Black peoples.
Exploitation:
part of discrimination, exploitation is the art and science of manipulating the
society in order to make things extremely difficult for Group A’s success to
flourish. This often manifests itself in places where people in Group A are
forced into substandard living conditions because of laws that prohibit them
from making the same successes as people in Group B. Even if a person from
Group A “makes it”, his or her success will be constantly threatened by circles
of power that seek to: (a) discredit him or her, (b) defame him or her. Also,
should the successful person in Group A ever seek to help his or her own people
out of their abject poverty, this will be seen as a threat to the stability of
the order (and it is). The life-line of the success is always conditional on
the ability to be consumed by the dominant culture.
ALL OF THESE PRACTICES ARE STILL IN ORDER IN SOME FORM TODAY
AND EVERYONE IN GROUP A, ALSO KNOWN AS PEOPLE OF COLOR, ARE STILL SUFFERING
FROM THE HISTORICAL AND PRESENT-DAY NEGATIVE BACKLASHES FROM CENTURIES, EVEN
MILLENNIA, OF OPPRESSION BY OPPOSING, POWERFUL FORCES. THIS SORT OF OPPRESSION
GOES UNNOTICED BY PEOPLE IN GROUP B BECAUSE THEY NEVER HAVE TO THINK ABOUT
BEING JUDGED BY A DOMINANT POWER BECAUSE OF THEIR RACE BECAUSE THEY ARE PART OF
THE DOMINANT POWER. AND RECEIVE ITS BENEFITS. RACISM IS NOT OVER. IT DID NOT
MAGICALLY DISAPPEAR WHEN BARACK OBAMA WAS ELECTED.
IN FACT, IT GOT WORSE. MUCH, MUCH WORSE. DON’T BELIEVE ME?
ASK PEOPLE OF COLOR ABOUT OUR EXPERIENCES. LOOK UP STATISTICAL ANALYSIS FROM
THE AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION AND AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL. KNOW YOUR
PRIVILEGE. TAKE OWNERSHIP OF YOUR PRIVILEGE. DECOLONIZE YOUR MIND. FREE
YOURSELF FROM THIS BULLSHIT. AND THAT’S ALL I HAVE TO SAY.
*sips tea*
No comments:
Post a Comment