I don't know how many of you have been following what's being called Racefail '09 or
The Great Cultural Appropriation Debate of Doom '09 (link goes to a practically comprehensive set of the posts, collated by
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
rydra_wong). Normally I don't actually talk that much about fandom stuff here on my own journal, though it's most of what I do on LJ - but this isn't just about fandom.
( Here, have a not-so brief summary )But, well. To try and be more positive about it, I'm linking to a number of what I think are the best posts around on these topics. Some of them aren't from 2009; they're all still applicable, unfortunately. And I want to say now: I'm trying not to be racist, to get past the racism I've learned from living in a racist society. It's not just about racism, either - if I'm living on my privilege, be it class or race or sex or gender or sexuality or any other kind, I'd rather know than not. If I fail at that, I would appreciate you, as my friends, letting me know, and not letting me go around saying stupid things more than I can help. You don't have to; it's not your jobs. But if you try, I promise I will try and hear what you are saying, and fix what I'm doing wrong.
Links:
bossymarmalade posted
"Sees Fire", a response to the "Ceasefire" post I quoted above:
You see, I couldn't just decide not to have a conversation about race anymore, because it follows me home. My race issues ARE my home. Other people can pick them up when they want to look at something shiny, something exotic tasty foreign bright colourful strange exciting; they toss them around, try them on. Start to explain them to me and find different names for them, like classism and learning experience.
And then they get confused that those race issues, shiny, aren't also malleable submissive accepting pliant silent cowed controllable; they drop them, scowling, and complain that I should have warned them they might get pricked, especially as they were so well-meaning in their actions.
Well, I say, maybe you shouldn't touch things before you learn about them or know how to treat them with respect.
ciderpress posted
"You mean those giant brains are making everyone on Earth stupid?" on dismissive responses from a number of the mostly white SFF professionals involved in this to the people trying to engage them:
They are attempting to intimidate and silence those who challenged them because they don't like what we have to say and they don't think we have a right to say it. Their actions and behaviour are another sign of their privilege, a method privileged people employ try to perpetuate their privilege, a part of the culture the oppression and silence and struggle non-white people/PoC have and have had throughout the years in white-defined, white dominated spaces to be heard when non-white/PoC views and opinions and actions do not support, reward and reinforce white privilege. This is a pattern of behaviour that is very present in our society, in my life; this is a choice and this is not new. This is not new to me personally, this is not new to us as a community, as communities. This isn't, in any world, civility or politeness or niceness. This is white people working to reinforce and to continue white power structures.
vito_excalibur posted
"Shetterly & Cramer: Once More, With Failing", on the "outing":
Speaking of which: do not come over to my LJ and try to explain nerd fan culture to me in an effort to facilitate communication. Where, exactly, do you think I come from? Do you think that all these fen of color randomly showed up in SF to make trouble? We are here because we grew up here! I am just as poorly socialized as you, I am just biracial as well! There's an excellent chance I was already ruining my parties with the 5 Geek Social Fallacies when your mom was still throwing yours at the roller rink! So do not show up to try to explain my own subculture at me, for you are rich in nitrogen and make good fertilizer!
sheafrotherdon posted
"One white person to another", on why white people should care and take the time to read any of this discussion:
The folks who have been carrying this debate are short on time too - they have families, jobs, second jobs, school, travel plans, deadlines, errands, illnesses. In the vast majority of cases they are men and women (especially women) of color who [cannot just choose to ignore this] because this is their life; [this is their world online and off]. [They have been talking, in every way they know how, in every minute they don't have to spare] to try and make folks possessed of white privilege grasp [what that privilege looks like], and [what effect] [it has] [on real people's lives].
And guess what? Not their job. It's never their job, but it's especially not their job to educate the world when there are [links] and [resources] out there by which we should be educating ourselves.
inalasahl posted
"Because There Aren't Enough Spoons on the Planet", on common (generally wrong) arguments that seem to come up every time:
Dear [Clueless Newbie / Agony Aunt / Internet User #1,574,313,184 / Person Who Eschews Labels and Is Quite Hurt that I've Just Assumed He or She Is a Newbie or Clueless / Person Who Is Offended by My Tone / Person Who Is Offended at Someone Else's Tone / Person Who Wasn't Offended Until I Linked Them To This, but Is Now Quite Prepared to Bristle / You]:
Welcome to discussions of race on the internet! If this is your first time, congratulations! You can look forward to many more exciting discussions for years to come, as race has been an issue on the internet so long as people have been on the internet. Why I still remember my first imbroglio way back when. If this is not your first time, you may also remember my first imbroglio when a bunch of people showed their asses by saying [there's nothing racist about Sisko only being a commander and not a captain; he's in charge of a space station, not a ship, for crying out loud / vulcans can't be black / there's nothing racist about casting a white girl as Jubilee in the Generation X television movie; the casting director probably just didn't know she was Chinese-American; it's not like she's drawn with slits for eyes or talks funny]. Ho ho ho, *wink, nudge* those were the days, weren't they?
zvi_likes_tv posted
"What I learned about tone" after another imbroglio from about a year ago now, on why arguing that the people who brought up the issue of racism in the first place would have been more successful if they'd been politer (the "tone argument") isn't helpful - or right:
To sum up:
1. In livejournal mediafandom, no one has observed tone successfully used as a mitigating factor, or they have not so far come forward to admit this.
2. Successful challenges in related arenas lead to the suspicion that having an audience which is alreay aware of race and racism issues will lead to more thoughtful and less hostile responses.
3. Private messages are sometimes well-received between friends, but sometimes not.
4. Critique goes best where there’s a script for how to give and how to receive critique.
ciderpress posted
"ven ve voke up, ve had zese wodies", with more on "tone" and why saying "but at least we [white people] have learned something from this!" isn't a good enough reason to keep having the same stupid arguments:
However, in the intense and almost singular focus on clueless white people in this discussion and the often repeated statement that this was an opportunity to dialogue, that there is solace in the fact that it has been worth all the pain and difficulty, that they are somehow *glad*, the underlying assumption is that:
# PoCs have emotional/intellectual catharsis after such discussions.
# PoC's pain being part of an educational moment for clueless white people is worth it to PoCs because it's worth it to white people.
# Anti-racism matters the same amount, in the same way to clueless white people, allies and PoC.
My own personal answer is, frankly no, I haven't felt any kind of catharsis. I'm pretty sure that the sacrifice of my dignity and watching other PoC being denigrated without any remorse isn't worth it so please stop talking for me and be more precise in your speech and own that you didn't really think about whether my pain and humiliation is worth your enlightening moment. And I can't walk away after a discussion and it's not about having a choice (even a forced one) about writing or not writing characters that are in my head. When we talk about race, we are often talking about our lives, it's deeply personal, it's how we related to the world, to people, to media, to everything.
coffeeandink posted
"How to Suppress Discussions of Racism" nearly three years ago now, but it's still far too relevant:
Tired of discussions of racism in literature, television, and film? Worn out from the unexpected criticism of your leisure pursuits? Exhausted by the effort of having to respond to each new argument carefully and conscientiously?
We can help!
We'll teach you how to suppress discussion of racism in six easy steps. Soon suppressing dissent will be so easy you can do it in your sleep!
hth posted
"helpful hint for the colorblind: BE LESS BLIND", again, a couple of years ago:
Look. This is the problem with trying to raise white people on Sesame Street in order to cure racism: you get a generation of white people who think it's to their credit that they hold everyone to the same standard, and run around operating like the world is one big, happy block party -- people who think they're complementing themselves when they say they're "colorblind."
BLIND is not a moral positive. BLIND is an inability to perceive what the non-blind people around you can clearly fucking see. My grandfather was red/green colorblind. His family also had a strawberry farm. His father used to beat him for not obeying instructions to pick only the RED strawberries and leave the GREEN ones on the bush.
Now, I'm not recommending regular beatings for the colorblind. That wasn't a nice thing to do (my great-grandfather was not a nice person in general, for oh so many reasons). But the thing is, my grandfather's colorblindness? Was a problem, because there is actually such a thing as color when it comes to strawberries, and it's easier to work on a strawberry farm when you can see it.
And there is actually such a thing as race. If you can't see it, you're not doing yourself or anyone else any favors.
And, finally,
deepad posted
"I Didn’t Dream of Dragons". This was one of the first posts in this whole GCADoD '09, and it's still one of the most powerful I've seen:
I grew up with half a tongue.
Do not tell me, or the people like me who have grown up hearing Arabic around them, or singing in Swahili, or dreaming in Bengali—but reading only (or even mostly) in English (or French, or Dutch)—that this colonial rape of our language has not infected our ability to narrate, has not crippled our imagination. When I was in class 7, our English teacher gave us the rare creative writing assignment, and three of my classmates wrote adventure stories about characters named Julian and Peggy and Tom. Do not tell me that this cultural fracture does not affect the odds required to produce enough healthy imaginations that can chrysalis into writers. When we call ourselves Oreos or Coconuts or Bananas (Black/Brown/Yellow on the outside, White on the inside)—understand the ruptures and bafflement that accompanies our consumption of your media while we resent and critique it.
I only have one more thing to say here (yes, I know, you're all cheering right now). The "outing" made me wonder... how secure are any of us on here? How many of us give away more personal information than we're aware of? I tend to be conservative in giving out specific information, but I talk so much about my personal life and interests that I can't imagine it would take very long to link my offline identity to my online one. Mostly I don't think it would be too much of a problem if it
did happen, though I'd rather it didn't, but in the interests of seeing how much you guys already know even before anyone starts
looking...
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Poll #1361621]
ETA: Um. Sorry. I thought this was going to be a brief summary with interesting links, but somehow it has turned into a tl;dr EPIC. It's important, though? And the links *are* interesting?
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