dream-a-little-bigger | aeraspais:
To be honest, I dislike how often discussions of racism get derailed to explain to people that the dictionary definition is out-of-date and inadequate but I feel it is a conversation we need to have. Racism will always be more complex than a “hatred or intolerance of another race or other races”. It is a set of practices and subconscious behaviors that continuously teaches us to default to white, where “nude” is considered to be beige, and black folks and Hispanics have higher incarceration rates than whites for the similar crimes. By saying this I am not undermining bullying you may have received in grade, middle or high school and I am also not saying people of color cannot be prejudiced against other races themselves. All I am saying is we, as people of color, cannot be racist since we lack the power to full on oppress you. It is truly that simple to grasp.
rac·ism
noun /ˈrāˌsizəm/
- The belief that all members of each race possess characteristics or abilities specific to that race, esp. so as to distinguish it as inferior or superior to another race or races
- Prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on such a belief
How do you get off responding with the dictionary definition of racism when I plainly quoted a part of the same definition, saying it is not good enough?
THIS IS REALLY REALLY IMPORTANT.
No, really. I am a white kid from the suburbs of Birmingham. A lot of people in my life like to look at me and my family and assume automatically that we’re racist, simply by virtue of the fact that we’re from the Deep South. The main problem with this? They so easily believe that they’re not racist; they like to place the blame on others. And they like to think that only few people are racist, not collective, historical institutions. The fact is, we do not live in a post-racial society. And as a Southern White Girl from Birmingham, Alabama, I can 100% assure you that Alabama is not the only place where racism exists.
(via mayeko)
