Rasher's Thoughtspace 25.
INFJ.
Let me be.
No, wait, come back.

curiouslycool:

stfuconfederates:

I have a private question for you. Is it wrong to get sick and tired of seeing everything being associated with racism and being racially motivated??

I feel like every disagreement on tumblr is blamed on race when PoC are involved, and because of this, I stay out of any conversations on racism. I’ve become even more discouraged to speak up about racism because of that post going around about white people having absolutely no say in what is or isn’t racist, and that our voice doesn’t matter.

I know and understand that I have privilege, but sometimes I feel like I’m being attacked when I’m not even involved in the discussion, because I see so much hate thrown out against white people. I also know that if I were to say anything about how it makes me feel, there would be a huge backlash of people telling me to get over it, and ‘what about the white people?’ comments.

I don’t know… .I feel bad for being overwhelmed and exhausted from seeing it all the time. Am I allowed to feel this way? Are my feelings directly associated with internalized racism? What am I suppose to do about these feelings?

I only come to you with this because I’m pretty sure you understand the intention of my question, and, I hope, you won’t judge me for asking. I really don’t like confrontation, and I know that if I publicly express these feelings, that is exactly what I will get.

A friend of mine submitted this to me this morning and asked that I not publish their name, but I’m going to answer publicly because I think this is a question that a lot of people have.

Basically, it’s a constant effort to remember that when people talk about things white people do, my immediate reaction to it has to be, instead of being defensive about it, first making sure that I’m not doing this negative thing that somebody is saying white people do. The process starts with monitoring your own behavior, no matter whether the conversation is about racism or misogyny or homophobia, etc. You have to start by paying attention to your own actions, and this goes for everybody.

As to whether it’s wrong to be tired of people who see racism everywhere? Yes. Because, for us as white people, it’s very easy to not see racism anywhere. I have no idea what it’s like to be anything other than white, but I do know that not everybody has this privilege. I think it’s a safe statement to make that racism is everywhere, or at least a facet in most aspects of everyday life for PoC. For a lot of PoC I know on Tumblr, this is a relatively safe space in which these issues can really be addressed.

The reason that it’s asserted that white people have no say as to what is/isn’t racism is that, simply put, we don’t experience it. And we love our dictionary definitions and our studies have shown, but no resource we can present are going to equal lived experience. As for speaking up on racism, as  you put it, part of being an ally is being vocal about racism when you see it. You just have to understand that the terms of defending people start with understanding the ways in which people want to be defended.

In other words, if a straight LGBTQ ally was fighting homophobia by calling homophobic people fags… You can be vocal about racism, you just have to make sure you understand how to fight it based on what you can learn from people who’ve experienced it.

Yes, there’s a lot of anti-white sentiment, not just on Tumblr but in life. There are a couple of things you have to understand about this.

• From most PoC’s (that I’ve encountered here) experience, the vast majority of white people they come in contact with are vehemently racist.
• Whiteness is pervasive. Virtually everything we know has been arranged to be that way by white people. This conditions us to downplay racism, but defend ourselves to the bitter end if we’re accused of it.
• From earlier, again, when somebody talks about all white people doing something, just check and make sure that it’s not something you do, first. Being a white person doesn’t automatically make you racist, but we both have to keep in mind that there are a lot of racist white people, and the way to start working against that is to make sure that our motivation is coming from the right place.
• Being a white person does mean that you have and will have white privilege, but you can still reject whiteness. Meaning that you can make yourself think differently, from perspectives that haven’t been put into place by privilege.
• Remember that people don’t say things like this to make white people feel guilty. Guilt doesn’t help anything. PoC say things like that to make white people realize that a lot of the things we do are (intentionally or not) racist, and to get us to stop doing them.

There’s sort of this odd thing that happens where white people are just terrified of being called ‘racist’, is if it’s the worst thing on Earth to admit that you may (not always consciously) do/say racist things from time to time. I do it. I just have to start by realizing that.

So yes, I’d have to say it would be racist to be sick and tired of people talking about racism, because it’s the privilege that we have that allows us to think that racism isn’t constantly affecting other people. You have to be able to understand that oppression needs, at least as a start, to be understood, and fought with understanding. And fought vocally, as a start.

Also, real talk, I’d rather be called a racist every day than experience racism every day. Hands down, easily.

The bold are my favorites lolololololol

(Source: reallyreallyokthen, via thegoddamazon)