RE Sarah Jeong: I am not a white person & I don’t know how it feels to you when people of color (POC) generalize about white people
But, I am a straight, cis man, so let met try to this analogy. If a woman says “men are trash,” I don’t get to be upset & here’s why
\begin{🍕}
But, I am a straight, cis man, so let met try to this analogy. If a woman says “men are trash,” I don’t get to be upset & here’s why
\begin{🍕}
I know, on a daily basis, men are harassing, assaulting, raping women & murdering estranged lovers out of a sense of entitlement
and those men are not being held accountable
and those men are not being held accountable
And I don’t have to engage in any of those behaviors directly myself to benefit indirectly from the environment they create that is hostile toward women and favors men
So, while that is going on, I’m not going to complain about what women say about men, when I could be complaining about the trash behaviors men engage in
Let me put it another way: I’m guessing that if an enslaved black person in Texas, in 1865, made generalizations about white people — rather than complain about their language, we’d probably want to focus on their Emancipation
Or, if the Chinese families affected by the Exclusion Act in 1882 had something to say about white people — you’d probably wouldn’t complain considering you banned them from the country
Same goes for victims of Japanese Internment in 1942 — they get to say whatever they want while you hold them in cells in their own country
Or my college roommate’s mother, who grew up with 4 little girls that got bombed in an Alabama church —in 1963, you wanna focus on the terrorism, not what she thinks about white people
You might understand why the people in those circumstances might say certain things about white people
Now, I know what you’re thinking ... that was in the past ... why am I bringing up old stuff?
First of all, I missed when this series of events ceased altogether. Let me know on which date all of this went away
First of all, I missed when this series of events ceased altogether. Let me know on which date all of this went away
It’s 2018: it’s not like we’re still holding black people against their will and profiting off of their labor
It’s 2018: we would never deny immigration or entry to whole classes of people
It’s 2018: the days of locking up entire groups of people in camps, in the name of national security are long gone
It’s 2018: black people can rest safe in their religious sanctuaries, free from fear of racist terrorists
You could respond by saying “not all white people” and complaining about what POC say about white people ...
But there are white supremecists in the white house, working tirelessly to implement these policies & incite racists across the country
Maybe focus on that 🤷🏾♂️
But there are white supremecists in the white house, working tirelessly to implement these policies & incite racists across the country
Maybe focus on that 🤷🏾♂️
Equating generalizations made by POC about white people & those made by white people about POC strike me as disingenuous at best
they’re informed by very different lived experiences (see above) & have very different material implications (see above)
they’re informed by very different lived experiences (see above) & have very different material implications (see above)
I wrote this thread but then tabled it, because I didn’t think this needed to be said. Deep down, I think people understand these distinctions
Like, if you were genuinely upset about the way POC talk about white people, you would have called the police ages ago
Like, if you were genuinely upset about the way POC talk about white people, you would have called the police ages ago
Finally, there’s this narrative that says the way POC talk about white people, or the way POC protest, is fueling recruitment for white nationalist organizations
That argument picks a convenient place to stop in the causal chain
That argument picks a convenient place to stop in the causal chain
If you (a) oppress POC, and (b) that causes them to talk about white people and protest, and (c) that in turn makes you want to do more to oppress people of color, maybe focus on (a) instead of blaming (b) for (c)
See also, the “Ferguson effect”
See also, the “Ferguson effect”
There’s a whole other thread on what POC mean when they say “white people,” i.e. they are in part referring to a system, but it’s Sunday, so I’m spent
\end{🍕}
\end{🍕}
