yeah, race

[ljgeoff]

I've been staying away from this whole discussion because I didn't think I had anything to add, and because I was burned last fall when I told someone that he had some issues about race.

But vito_excalibur just posted a very excellent example of the "color blind" thought process that I find actually helps me think about all the nasty stuff that was said. I recommend it.

Comments

[ailbhe]

Good grief, some issues indeed.

[ljgeoff.livejournal.com]

I really loved what vito_excalibur wrote. I worry about my kids growing up in such a mono-culture; I think that each of my kids have, at one time, said, "Look, Mom! A black man!"

[ailbhe]

My kids have black friends, but not many of them, and it was really, really hard to explain to Linnea WHY Obama-as-President is such a big thing for the US.

What vito_excalibur wrote was great, though some of the links were car-crashy.

fairness

[anansi133.livejournal.com]

For a long time I've tried to think of every form of bigotry as being connected somehow, that they're all ways for people to weasel out of trying to be fair toward others.

It usually doesn't work to tell someone they're not being fair under a particular flavor of bigotry: usually they'll invent a reason why that particular behavior is due to something else, not what you're accusing them of, and besides which, you're not spotless either so lay off.

It's so much easier to try to stamp out bigotry against left-handed albino southerners or bisexual mulatto fishermen, than to simply insist on fairness for everyone no matter who or what they are. And those two special interest groups might get mad at me for minimizing their problems, but I don't have attention for every nation on the planet.

Re: fairness

[ljgeoff.livejournal.com]

What I find interesting is that "fair" is subjective. I think that I don't question myself enough about my own privileges, and too often assume that everyone has the sme privileges that I have.

privilege

[anansi133.livejournal.com]

What I don't like about the privilege idea, is how it draws attention downwards. I can read while many cannot. That gives me literacy privilege. I have drunk clean water all my life, many have not. I've lived in temperate climates, eaten well, enjoyed so many advantages... for reasons I had not stake in choosing.

Does it really matter if I got these things because I was white, or male, or nominally Christian? It matters that too few people have access to these things. I don't think it matters as much what reasons are given for denying them these things.

Another thing about white male privilege, is how easy it is to lose. Letting on that I'm not heterosexual, or that I have a diagnosed mental condition, suddenly I'm just as much in the out- group as if I were a lawbreaker.

In a lot of out-groups, there's a spiraling downward where attention given to one group is considered to detract from others. If Native Americans are getting a less crummy deal, then Latino groups might not be getting a fair shake. After the WTO protests there was a lot of hand-wringing and second-guessing because oh my goddess, there weren't enough people of color in the marches. As if the thousands of white faces werent' enough, they couldn't count because they were white! There's only so much attention to go around, so big a slice of pie, so sharing it with folks from another minority group means less for this one.

I don't think fairness is all that subjective, not at the levels where we can actually do something about. What's subjective is the judgement of how powerful each of us is. We decide if we're stong enough to stick up for someone else, or if it's too big an issue to address here and now.