This sounds an awful lot like “I don’t see color” and is a pretty ignorant take. How do you prevent treating people differently while there is systemic discrimination giving people power over others and leading to a complicated web of privileges? Saying “don’t treat people differently” is ignoring the systemic level of racism (and other forms of discrimination). You don’t get absolved about confronting yourself with your own privileges and position of power over others just because you pretend to treat everyone equally. And I’m fact I don’t think you can treat all people equally. Think of people you have a relationship with vs strangers for example.
This is some white saviour bullshit right here and I say that as a brown south Asian born in Britian. Most people want to be treated like equal humans, not charity cases, not terrorists. A human being capable of human achievement and human malice. If someone treats me “ah too sweetly and gently” because I’m brown like my best friends Oxford mother does at time, I see it as extremely condescending and arrogant. But I was also very fortunate to grow up in a safe enough environment to grow and learn about these things that many of my ethnic background never get to.
I took treating everyone as a normal human being as granted. This would concern the individual level only. My point was that just saying “I treat everyone equally” completely lacks any understanding of structural discrimination. Like I said, this is similar to the “I don’t see color” debate. Or this Pat Parker quote relates to this too, doesn’t it?
The first thing you do is to forget that I’m black.
Second, you must never forget that I’m black.
Generally yes but specifically no. It takes more than that to offset the racism built into the system. Since the article was written from a US perspective I’ll talk from that point of view, but the same is true in other countries (In the UK, Black women are 3x more likely to die in childbirth than white women, a symptom of this concept there).
In the US, the system we live in is quite literally built on racism. From the founding document when compromises regarding slavery were baked into the way we vote, to our criminal system which rose from the ashes of reconstruction after our civil war, our foundation is racism. Our government is alternatingly unwilling or incapable of correcting these wrongs, so the onus is on individuals to do so.
Being a good person is the first step, but beyond that is lending a hand to dismantle the structures where we can, and many of the 100 things listed in the article. This isn’t “oh sweetie bless your heart” this is “I’ll show up and fight for you.”
Yes, I agree that this is important and should be standard behavior. I was criticizing you saying “there is only one way” and then only looking at the individual level. My point is that this isn’t sufficient, people have to consider and dismantle discrimination on a structural level or we won’t get rid of it. The article discusses discrimination on an individual and also structural level. You seemingly disagreed saying that the only way is to not treat people differently. Like I said, this won’t be sufficient and is only scratching the surface.
There is actually only one way. Don’t treat people differently because of their skin colour.
This sounds an awful lot like “I don’t see color” and is a pretty ignorant take. How do you prevent treating people differently while there is systemic discrimination giving people power over others and leading to a complicated web of privileges? Saying “don’t treat people differently” is ignoring the systemic level of racism (and other forms of discrimination). You don’t get absolved about confronting yourself with your own privileges and position of power over others just because you pretend to treat everyone equally. And I’m fact I don’t think you can treat all people equally. Think of people you have a relationship with vs strangers for example.
This is some white saviour bullshit right here and I say that as a brown south Asian born in Britian. Most people want to be treated like equal humans, not charity cases, not terrorists. A human being capable of human achievement and human malice. If someone treats me “ah too sweetly and gently” because I’m brown like my best friends Oxford mother does at time, I see it as extremely condescending and arrogant. But I was also very fortunate to grow up in a safe enough environment to grow and learn about these things that many of my ethnic background never get to.
I took treating everyone as a normal human being as granted. This would concern the individual level only. My point was that just saying “I treat everyone equally” completely lacks any understanding of structural discrimination. Like I said, this is similar to the “I don’t see color” debate. Or this Pat Parker quote relates to this too, doesn’t it?
I didn’t say treat all people equally. What I say is don’t treat people differently just because of the colour of their skin.
There are nice people and there are arsehole people, that applies to every skin colour. But you must not make a pre-selection based on skin colour.
Just treat people with respect, regardless of their skin colour, and don’t put up with arseholes.
Generally yes but specifically no. It takes more than that to offset the racism built into the system. Since the article was written from a US perspective I’ll talk from that point of view, but the same is true in other countries (In the UK, Black women are 3x more likely to die in childbirth than white women, a symptom of this concept there).
In the US, the system we live in is quite literally built on racism. From the founding document when compromises regarding slavery were baked into the way we vote, to our criminal system which rose from the ashes of reconstruction after our civil war, our foundation is racism. Our government is alternatingly unwilling or incapable of correcting these wrongs, so the onus is on individuals to do so.
Being a good person is the first step, but beyond that is lending a hand to dismantle the structures where we can, and many of the 100 things listed in the article. This isn’t “oh sweetie bless your heart” this is “I’ll show up and fight for you.”
Yes, I agree that this is important and should be standard behavior. I was criticizing you saying “there is only one way” and then only looking at the individual level. My point is that this isn’t sufficient, people have to consider and dismantle discrimination on a structural level or we won’t get rid of it. The article discusses discrimination on an individual and also structural level. You seemingly disagreed saying that the only way is to not treat people differently. Like I said, this won’t be sufficient and is only scratching the surface.
You have to start somewhere…