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So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo

So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo

by Parker · 34 things on Twos

Race was not only created to justify a racially exploitative economic system, it was invented to lock people of color into the bottom of it. Racism in America exists to exclude people of color from opportunity and progress so that there is more profit for others deemed superior. This profit itself is the greater promise for nonracialized people—you will get more because they exist to get less. That promise is durable, and unless attacked directly, it will outlive any attempts to address class as a whole.
In just about every demographic of socio-political-eco-nomic well-being, black and brown people are consistently getting less.
It is about race if a person of color thinks it is about race.
It is about race if it disproportionately or differently affects people of color.
It is about race if it fits into a broader pattern of events that disproportionately or differently affect people of color.
If you are a person of color, know this: the world will try to tell you that what you are seeing, hearing, thinking, and feeling is wrong. The world will tell you that you do not know how to interpret what is happening to you and to your community. But you are not wrong, and you have just as much right to be heard and believed as anybody else. If you think it's about race, you are right.
Poor people shouldn't have to prove how much they deserve to have a roof over their heads and feed their children.
We couldn't talk about the ways in which race and racism impacted my life, because he was unwilling to even acknowledge the racism that was impacting my life and he was unable to prioritize my safety over his comfort—which meant that we couldn't talk about me.
Racism is a prejudice against someone based on race, when those prejudices are reinforced by systems of power.
We live in a society where race is one of the biggest indicators of your success in life.
"What was said to you wasn't okay, and should be ad-dressed. But we are talking about two different things. Being called "cracker" hurts, may even be humiliating. But after those feelings fade, what measurable impact will it have on your life? On your ability to walk the streets safely? On your ability to get a job? How often has the word "cracker" been used to deny you services? What measurable impact has this word had on the lives of white Americans in general?"
Privilege, in the social justice context, is an advantage or a set of advantages that you have that others do not.
The "school-to-prison pipeline" is the term commonly used to describe the alarming number of black and brown children who are funneled directly and indirectly from our schools into our prison industrial complex, contributing to devastating levels of mass incarceration that lead to one in three black men and one in six Latino men going to prison in their lifetimes, in addition to increased levels of incarceration for women of color.
The school-to-prison pipeline starts with the high level of suspensions and expulsions mentioned earlier. The disproportionately punitive levels of school discipline toward black and brown children does more than impact a student's year. Psychologists attest that overly harsh discipline destroys children's trust in teachers and schools, along with damaging their self-es-teem.
Words only lose their power when first the impact of those words are no longer felt, not the other way around.
It is completely fair that a word used to help create and maintain the oppression of others for your benefit would not be able to be used by you without invoking that oppression, while people of color who had never had the power to oppress with those words would be able to use them without invoking that same oppression.
We can broadly define the concept of cultural appropriation as the adoption or exploitation of another culture by a more dominant culture.
Appreciation should benefit all cultures involved, and true appreciation does. But appropriation, more often than not, disproportionately benefits the dominant culture that is borrowing from marginalized cultures, and can even harm marginalized cultures.
Until we do live in a society that equally respects all cultures, any attempts of the dominant culture to "borrow" from marginalized cultures will run the risk of being exploitative and insulting.
Because we still live in a world where little respect and autonomy is granted to black people, where we are constantly reminded of how little control over our lives we have. So maybe for now you set your curiosity aside and allow someone the space to determine who does or does not touch their hair, without labeling them rude, sensitive, or divisive.
Microaggressions are small daily insults and indignities perpetrated against marginalized or oppressed people because of their affiliation with that marginalized or oppressed group.
These microaggressions help hold the system of White Supremacy to-gether, because if we didn't have all these little ways to separate and dehumanize people, we'd empathize with them more fully, and then we'd have to really care about the system that is crushing them.
Please take the lead of the person of color who is being directly harmed by the microaggression. If it seems like they do not want the issue ad-dressed, do not decide to come to their rescue anyway—people of color have very good reasons for why they choose to speak out and why they choose not to, and you don't want to remove that agency from them.
As a person of color, you don't have to call out every microaggression against you, but you have the right to call out each and every one that you choose to. Do not let people convince you that you are being over-sensitive, that you are being disruptive or divisive. What is harmful and divisive are these acts of aggression against people of color that are allowed to happen constantly, without consequence. What is harmful and divisive is the expectation that people of color would just accept abuse. While sometimes these conversations about microag-gressions can be very healthy and lead to a pleasant resolution, where a well-meaning person genuinely listens and acknowledges the pain they've caused, often, the person you are talking with will refuse to see what you are saying and will become defensive. And that's okay. Even that is progress.
Pause. It is very easy to be overwhelmed with emotions when you are called out. Before you respond at all, pause and - Pause. It is very easy to be overwhelmed with emotions when you are called out. Before you respond at all, pause and catch your breath and remember that your goal is to understand and to have a better relationship with the person you are talking to.
Originally coined in 1966 by sociologist William Peterson to profile the socioeconomic success of Japanese Ameri-cans, the myth of the "model minority" has become a collection of stereotypes about Asian Americans, presenting them as an "ideal minority group" in the eyes of White Supremacy. Included in these stereotypes are presumptions of academic and financial success, social and political meekness, a strong work ethic, dominance in math and the sciences, and strict parenting. Peter-son's use of "model minority" was to study the success of Asian Americans, contrasting them with what he termed "problem minorities.”
Tone policing is when someone (usually the privileged per-son) in a conversation or situation about oppression shifts the focus of the conversation from the oppression being discussed to the way it is being discussed. Tone policing prioritizes the comfort of the privileged person in the situation over the oppression of the disadvantaged person.
No discussion about racism is just about one incident for people of color, because we cannot divorce ourselves from the past pain of systemic ra-cism, or the future repercussions of current abuse. When people of color talk about systemic racism, far more than feelings have been hurt and far more than feelings are at stake.
By tone policing, you are increasing that disadvantage by insisting that you get to determine if their grievances are valid and will only decide they are so if, on top of everything they are already enduring, they make the effort to prioritize your comfort.
Build a tolerance for discomfort. You must get used to being uncomfortable and get used to this not being about your feelings if you plan to help and nothin-der people of color in their efforts for racial justice.
You are not doing any favors, you are doing what is right. If you are white, remember that White Supremacy is a system you benefit from and that your privilege has helped to uphold. Your efforts to dismantle White Supremacy are expected of decent people who believe in justice. You are not owed gratitude or friendship from people of color for your efforts. We are not thanked for cleaning our own houses.
Vote local and demand that anybody asking for your vote (from school board to city council to state senator) make racial justice a top priority.
Give what you can to groups like the ACLU, SPLC, Planned Parent-hood, NAACP, National Immigrant Justice Center, National Council of La Raza, Native American Rights Fund, Native American Disability Law Center, Asian Americans Advancing Justice, and more. Reach out to people in your local community to see what local organizations could use your financial support.
You don't always win the fight at first, but small actions add up, especially when you don't give up.