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It's time like this that I'm glad that my own little corner of the internet is exactly that - little, and a corner. Because I think what I'm about to say would turn into major wank if I was a BNF or the like.
I've just started seeing post about what is being called 'RaceFail '09' - obviously a tad belatedly, cos apparently it's been going on for a couple of months now. So I read the original post which started it, some of the summaries and the responses on both sides... and I still don't get it. My ultimate thoughts are as follows: (bearing in mind that I use terminology which is as far as I know, politically correct IN THE UK. And that I can only speak from my own experience)
- as a white person, whatever I said in comments would not be right, because I'm white. Which to me feels like just as much prejudice as the other way around.
- I live in one of the most multi-cultural areas of the UK (the East End of London) and I have never seen casual racism here - not in graffitti, not on the streets, not on the public transport. Nowhere. Now I may just not go to the right places or watch closely enough, I don't know. Or maybe this area is simply so multi-cultural that there is no racism. I think that's probably not actually the case, but it's not OBVIOUS here. I don't look at what colour people are. It doesn't appear that other people do either. I feel more likely to be judged by the posh-ness of my accent than the colour of my skin. On the other hand, within my university racism has been a major theme this year - our SU president allegedly said some racist things at a NUS forum, was then cleared of all charges, but was fired anyway. I have no idea if he did or if he didn't. Also, there is of course tension between Palestinian students and supporters and Israeli and Jewish students and supporters, including an occupation of a lecture theatre on behalf of the former, which has sparked some accusations of racism on both sides against each other and the college. Here, it almost seems like an easy way of furthering their arguments - rather like arguments which descend into likening the other side to the Nazis/Hitler.
- I grew up, conversely, in an area so white that there were only about three non-white kids in my school out of a thousand students. But again, as far as I'm aware those children never experienced racism. In school, we studied literature and history and RE and all sorts of other things which happened to cover things from other cultures. Sometimes those things dealt with racism. Sometimes not. There was never a feeling that studying something by someone of another colour to myself was something unusual or noteworthy - in fact, I don't remember particularly thinking about it being anything more than just another thing we were studying, in amongst all the other things. Of course, we probably studied far more things written by white, British people than anything else - but that's because we mostly studied the history and literature of Britain, which for most of its history had a population consisting almost entirely of white people.
- ultimately, I am trying to say that I am unable to understand most of the reactions I have seen. Not that those people are not entitled to those reactions - they most certainly are - but I am incapable, because of how I think and the experiences I have had which formed that way of thinking, to fully understand how they arrived at those reactions.
(As a final note... I'm sorry, but every time I see someone put 'PoC', I read it as Pirates of the Caribbean. Which stops the flow of the argument for me a little!)
I'm not trying to be facetious, or say that discussion about racism is not important - but those are my thoughts. If someone can explain to me (possibly in words of one syllable) how I can understand a bit better, then go right ahead... Feel free to disagree with me/agree with me. These are very unformed, uninformed thoughts. I do not believe that what I think is what anyone else should be required to think (that applies to pretty much everything I ever say or do, really).
Plus this... which started as a point, and turned into its own mini-argument:
- I think that my thoughts on this are a little like my thoughts on feminism, if I can draw parallels between the two. In my own experience (which is, after all, all I have to go on) hardcore feminism is no longer necessary today. It seems to me it requires the balance to be tipped the OTHER way, which for me is just as wrong, and prevents open discussion. Of course, prejudice in any way, shape or form against women is wrong. But reading prejudice into everything is also wrong, and as a woman, feeling forced to behave in a certain way in order to uphold feminism is wrong too. Maybe I, as a woman, feel that my life will be more fulfilled if I put having a child before my career. I know I can make that choice, or choose to do both, and that's what's important. I don't want to to be made to feel that I am going back to the Middle Ages if I don't choose to put a career first. What I mean in relation to the above points is that open discussion from white people about race is just as valid as open discussion from men about gender rights. I hope this makes sense.
I've just started seeing post about what is being called 'RaceFail '09' - obviously a tad belatedly, cos apparently it's been going on for a couple of months now. So I read the original post which started it, some of the summaries and the responses on both sides... and I still don't get it. My ultimate thoughts are as follows: (bearing in mind that I use terminology which is as far as I know, politically correct IN THE UK. And that I can only speak from my own experience)
- as a white person, whatever I said in comments would not be right, because I'm white. Which to me feels like just as much prejudice as the other way around.
- I live in one of the most multi-cultural areas of the UK (the East End of London) and I have never seen casual racism here - not in graffitti, not on the streets, not on the public transport. Nowhere. Now I may just not go to the right places or watch closely enough, I don't know. Or maybe this area is simply so multi-cultural that there is no racism. I think that's probably not actually the case, but it's not OBVIOUS here. I don't look at what colour people are. It doesn't appear that other people do either. I feel more likely to be judged by the posh-ness of my accent than the colour of my skin. On the other hand, within my university racism has been a major theme this year - our SU president allegedly said some racist things at a NUS forum, was then cleared of all charges, but was fired anyway. I have no idea if he did or if he didn't. Also, there is of course tension between Palestinian students and supporters and Israeli and Jewish students and supporters, including an occupation of a lecture theatre on behalf of the former, which has sparked some accusations of racism on both sides against each other and the college. Here, it almost seems like an easy way of furthering their arguments - rather like arguments which descend into likening the other side to the Nazis/Hitler.
- I grew up, conversely, in an area so white that there were only about three non-white kids in my school out of a thousand students. But again, as far as I'm aware those children never experienced racism. In school, we studied literature and history and RE and all sorts of other things which happened to cover things from other cultures. Sometimes those things dealt with racism. Sometimes not. There was never a feeling that studying something by someone of another colour to myself was something unusual or noteworthy - in fact, I don't remember particularly thinking about it being anything more than just another thing we were studying, in amongst all the other things. Of course, we probably studied far more things written by white, British people than anything else - but that's because we mostly studied the history and literature of Britain, which for most of its history had a population consisting almost entirely of white people.
- ultimately, I am trying to say that I am unable to understand most of the reactions I have seen. Not that those people are not entitled to those reactions - they most certainly are - but I am incapable, because of how I think and the experiences I have had which formed that way of thinking, to fully understand how they arrived at those reactions.
(As a final note... I'm sorry, but every time I see someone put 'PoC', I read it as Pirates of the Caribbean. Which stops the flow of the argument for me a little!)
I'm not trying to be facetious, or say that discussion about racism is not important - but those are my thoughts. If someone can explain to me (possibly in words of one syllable) how I can understand a bit better, then go right ahead... Feel free to disagree with me/agree with me. These are very unformed, uninformed thoughts. I do not believe that what I think is what anyone else should be required to think (that applies to pretty much everything I ever say or do, really).
Plus this... which started as a point, and turned into its own mini-argument:
- I think that my thoughts on this are a little like my thoughts on feminism, if I can draw parallels between the two. In my own experience (which is, after all, all I have to go on) hardcore feminism is no longer necessary today. It seems to me it requires the balance to be tipped the OTHER way, which for me is just as wrong, and prevents open discussion. Of course, prejudice in any way, shape or form against women is wrong. But reading prejudice into everything is also wrong, and as a woman, feeling forced to behave in a certain way in order to uphold feminism is wrong too. Maybe I, as a woman, feel that my life will be more fulfilled if I put having a child before my career. I know I can make that choice, or choose to do both, and that's what's important. I don't want to to be made to feel that I am going back to the Middle Ages if I don't choose to put a career first. What I mean in relation to the above points is that open discussion from white people about race is just as valid as open discussion from men about gender rights. I hope this makes sense.
