11 posts tagged “racism”

Since I didn't explicitly say something that should have been said, I'm writing this addendum to the previous post that was dealing with the acknowledgment of allies.

The problem with acknowledging allies is the compulsive need for allies to demand acknowledgement. The lack of acknowledgement will not magically resolve the pressure from allies to be acknowledged. The resolution can only be brought by the allies themselves.

So, fellow allies, knock it off!

If you think you deserve a parade, a pat on the back, a cookie, a trophy, a compliment or the slightest bit of attention for being an ally, you're doing it wrong.

Privilege 101 is learning that you don't get a pat on the back, or a trophy, or a parade, or any special acknowledgement for doing what's right. The right thing is, of course, to identify and refuse privilege. When done, this helps to create equality in society because those who are privileged are refusing that privilege, allowing the equality where they otherwise undermined it. This is one of many critical things that allies do to bring about change from a place of privilege.

So, it's not unknown that when a man who's new to feminism steps in to talk about how fantastically pro-woman he is or a white person spouts about how much racism they can identify and confront other white people over, that a common reaction will be, "So?"

Another form of this same attaboy-seeking behavior is in the argument, "We're not all like that!" When discussing systematic oppressions, generalisations are frequently used to easily communicate important ideas. The need for an ally to identify themselves as being different is an act of privilege in and of itself. "You must acknowledge me." The truth of it is that if you're doing the right thing, you don't get a reward for that or a special mention under "exceptions". "White people partake in the racial privilege of a systematically oppressive society... except for Bob over there who's doing a swell job sticking up for POC!"

Despite this being Privilege 101, despite this being very well known that people don't get cookies for doing the decent thing because the decent thing isn't and shouldn't be a special achievement, despite knowing all of that, I still see posts that commend allies for their participation. Are "attaboy"s given out as a way to head-off the almost inevitable "not me!" comments that follow any generalisation so the discussion doesn't get derailed into all the fantastic things white people do for POC?

Even if such acknowledgments are included to shut us up, it seems apologetic. "I'm sorry I'm saying this because I know you're different."

Forget that. I'm not different. That's the point of needing to be an ally in the first place. An ally isn't someone special, an ally is just someone who's trying to do the right thing. They may or may not be doing a good job of it, but, regardless, they aren't an exception to anything. White people don't get cookies for being decent.

Mind you, I don't mind positive feedback but I want to make it clear that I'm doing what I expect that I should do... and I could be doing a lot more. Every ally is doing what they expect they should do and they all could be doing a lot more, especially if they think they're an exception.

On the blog Angry Black Woman, karnythia writes an article titled POC and the Politics of Medical Research. I invite everyone to read this piece for information on the subjection of people to unethical experimental treatment due to their race and class. I encourage readers to follow the links provided to learn more about the subjects that are being discussed and referenced.

On Livejournal, karnythia writes a mirror post to the ABW article. I strongly recommend reading this post and the comments that follow for additional information. 

Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Time

Harriet A. Washington

Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present by Harriet A. Washington is recommended in the above linked post by karnythia. It is available on Amazon.com by following this [link]. It's only $10.85 and is eligible for free shipping.

No Trespassing

I can't begin to tell you how much I like this photo. I don't know why. I guess with the ridiculousness of xenophobia and immigration, it just seems appropriate.

I went to two cemeteries today. It would have been three but the third was in a different spot than I thought it would be. I should have really Google Earth'd the location before I set out so I wasn't basing my direction on a general location.

Lt. Carl Bailey Cemetery - weathered tomb

Lt. Carl Bailey Cemetery, formerly Cleveland Cemetery, is located in the Cleveland neighbourhood of Punta Gorda. It's well-kept now. The older graves - the ones that are marked, that is - show extreme weathering and neglect. The place is modestly big for being in a small square of town. The number of occupants are impressive and there are still plots for sale. It's an active cemetery. It was renamed Lt. Carl Bailey Cemetery after the U.S. Air Force lieutenant who is buried, along with his whole family, in the cemetery.

Hickory Bluff Cemetery

Hickory Bluff Cemetery is named appropriately because when the cemetery began in the 1800's, Charlotte Harbor Town was still known as Hickory Bluff. This was a time before DeSoto County even existed and the entire area was a giant Manatee County. This was another neglected cemetery where people were buried without markers or record from the 1800's until the 1950's. Charlotte County had charge of maintaining the cemetery in the 1930's and 40's but did nothing to resolve this substantial problem. There are three markers with full information provided. Three. Out of the countless others who were buried in the seventy years from the 1880's through the 1950's. I ran audio at Hickory Bluff but it resulted in nothing. I did get fantastic photographs of the birds who weren't afraid of people. They treated me like I wasn't even there.

Did I mention both Lt. Carl Bailey Cemetery and Hickory Bluff Cemetery were for African-American residents? I think the County should exume and identify, but where does that money come from? Still, I think it needs to be done and should be done on the County dollar since it was the County who perpetuated this problem. It shouldn't stay the way it is.

I have to do laundry and pack tomorrow for this trip. Tom's making me "prepare" instead of letting me throw everything together last minute. Since I'm staying in Rensselaer for the week, I have to pack more clothes than I did when I ran back and forth during the Winter visitation thing. Rensselaer currently has one waymark so I'm going to have a ball waymarking all the historical and noteworthy everything. The peer vote on my Woman's Clubs category will be done on May 29. I'll be on the road, which doesn't make a difference in the category's fate but it will drive me crazy until I know what's going on.

Fountain of Youth - Punta Gorda Spigot

I finally found the appropriate category for the Fountain of Youth in downtown Punta Gorda. It's an artesian well, thus it belongs in Artesian Wells. When it is approved by an officer, it will be Fountain of Youth - Punta Gorda, FL (WM3EXT).

There are a number of cemeteries in Charlotte County that I didn't know about. Who would have thought to look on the Public Works website for the information instead of, say, the Historical Society! The history is very unpleasant. These are cemeteries that have "historically served Charlotte County's African-American community", as the website phrases it. As a result, the records are poorly kept and the maintenance is next to none. With a horrific history that makes a reasonable person sick to learn, El Jobean Cemetery is historic and requires responsible documentation.

Tomorrow is Wednesday and I have to start researching Rennsalaer if I'm going to know what I'm waymarking and why when I arrive on Sunday.

Bailey's fever broke and now she's dealing with cold symptoms.

Hey, female singletons, Drew Peterson is back on the market!

Does anybody actually believe Stacy Peterson ran off with another man, abandoning her children without a single word for over eight months, and cannot be found by law enforcement, FBI or anyone who's watched the news and be able to ID her? If she's left the country with someone, wouldn't someone have an idea who it would be? Why doesn't Drew Peterson have an idea who she ran off with if he's so sure that's what she did? Wouldn't law enforcement and FBI be able to find him?

Seriously. Anybody buy any of his story against what the sister has said?

On a related note, if it weren't for Heath Ledger, our news would have been entirely about killed or missing white women. If I were to trust Florida news, I'd believe that POC never get hurt unless they're a famous sports celebrity or doing something wrong. It's always white women who end up in trouble, even when they lie about it. With the emphasis on white women, it's understandable why some quip, "Won't somebody think of the white women!" as a satire of "Won't somebody think of the children!", but can we ever analyse why white women are equated and treated like children in so many circumstances instead of mocking this exercise of sexism as if it's something that white women benefit from?

One of those white women was a North Port mom was kidnapped and killed, dumped just down the road at our I-75 exit (this was after police failed to locate her from her 911 call and nobody who saw her clawing at the Camaro windows and calling for help picking up their phones to call 911). There's been no motive so far for why Michael King abducted and murdered Denise Amber Lee. I really hate when shit happens in my backyard, especially when it's so close that "backyard" seem less figurative and more literal.

I've thought about this phrase a lot because it keeps recurring throughout this campaign. Black people are voting for Obama because he "looks like them". Women are voting for Clinton because she "looks like them". Black women are voting for...? Well, that's another post altogether that's already been handled extremely well by Angry Black Bitch in this post.

When this phrase is turned out in an accusatory way, white men say it. Haven't they always voted for candidates that "looked like them"? Haven't our choices of candidates always been white men? Now, we have serious front-runners who are not white men. If we vote for candidates that happen to have attributes in common when no time in history has this been possible before, we are accused of voting solely based on the similiar attributes.

My local FOX affiliate has a morning show where they went out into the street with headshots of the candidates, asking who looked the most presidential. Everyone chose either Romney or Thompson, who are both white, male and rich. Don't we analyse why this physical appearance is considered presidential or do we just accept that future presidents should look just like the previous ones did?

What becomes obvious to me is that this isn't a matter of black people voting for Obama because he's black or women voting for Clinton because she's a woman. This is a matter of white men voting for white men and not liking that others are not forced to choose amoungst a selection of candidates that look just like them.

My father-in-law announced at a recent lunch in a popular local restaurant that he wasn't going to buy Hunts Ketchup because they support Presidential Candidate Barack Obama and he'll never support a "n-word". There was a black family with children eating at the next table. My husband became embarassed and snapped, "You can't say that in public!" He was met with the response, "I don't care who hears me." He has nothing to fear. Anyone within earshot is much more civilised than him.

Mind you, he doesn't do the shopping so it's not like he has any control over what brand of which condiments are purchased. It's not like they consume so much ketchup that his racial boycott will cripple the company and cause it to file bakruptsy, making them regret and rethink their political alignments henceforth. I also have failed to find any evidence of this corporate endorsement. He said it for the purpose of harming the people at the next table and only for that purpose.

For my kids' sake, I'm glad they weren't there. For his sake, I'm glad I wasn't there.

He keeps saying how he doesn't have much time left, but does it ever occur to him that racists burn in Hell?

PS: We're out of ketchup and even though I'm still undecided on my vote, I'm buying Hunts.

I've seen more times than I care to realise people blaming Political Correctness [PC] for ruining good stereotyping fun.  We can't say racial slurs because it's not PC and people will get upset. We can't poke fun at minorities because it's not PC and people will get upset. We can't stereotype and say things that aren't true because it's not PC and people will get upset.

Political Correctness and these crazy extremist liberals just want to censor all the fun, don't they?

Well, I'm not really a fan of the censoring. As a card-carrying member of the ACLU, I do support the First Ammendment of the US Constitution for all it's worth. I do draw the line at human dignity and I do recognise the current structure of institutionalised oppression. I do recognise that there is a point when lack of censorship contributes to hate speech, which is a vile disregard to the life, liberty and freedom that our nation's ideals were founded.

With that said, the wet-blanket on our fun is always racism. People who are racist are the ones who ruin the fun because what we regard as satire, what we recognise as untrue, what we want to make fun of, is what racists believe is true, what they spread as propaganda to turn others' hearts to hate, is what they act on when they attack people.

Stephen Colbert does extraordinary racism satire. He takes his conservative pundit character and plays up the white privilege to such a delightful extreme that you know there's no way he can be serious. Yet, because there are pundits who do equally ridiculous thngs in all seriousness, there are people who aren't always sure that Colbert is acting in satire. They have to ask. They have a right to ask. It's greatly possible that Colbert's racism satire helps others to realise just how absurd and racist the serious pundits are, but it is a very thin line to walk. Not everyone is as clever and intelligent as Stephen Colbert.

As a white American with irish heritage, I can laugh at the idea of a day to dress up like one of those old Irish stereotypes. I have met actual Irish people who don't laugh at these stereotypes and find the whole misappropriation of the Irish culture by Americans to be nothing more than a blatant demonstration of Western privilege. Are they too PC or do they have a right to their feelings since it is their country and their culture? I couldn't imagine satiring someone else's country of origin or their culture. The US is in a place now where our citizens are still struggling to learn from each other and benefit from our differences. Once we get past all the hate that separates us and makes us feel threatened by differences (I'm speaking mainly to white people here), then we can start to satire that fear and hate.

I'm all for making fun of things that are unacceptable. We need to work on reducing hate, misappropriation, misunderstandings and threats while we laugh. I don't think we can do that by blaming Political Correctness. We need to put the blame where it belongs: on the racists.

Source: [link]

Ku Klux Klan Rebounds With New Focus On Immigration, ADL Reports

New York, NY, February 6, 2007 … The Ku Klux Klan, which just a few years ago seemed static or even moribund compared to other white supremacist movements such as neo-Nazis, experienced "a surprising and troubling resurgence" during the past year due to the successful exploitation of hot-button issues including immigration, gay marriage and urban crime, according to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).

The League, which monitors the activities of racist hate groups and reports its findings to law enforcement and policymakers, has documented a noticeable spike in activity by Klan chapters across the country.  The KKK believes that the U.S. is "drowning" in a tide of non-white immigration, controlled and orchestrated by Jews, and is vigorously trying to bring this message to Americans concerned or fearful about immigration.

"If any one single issue or trend can be credited with re-energizing the Klan, it is the debate over immigration in America," said Deborah M. Lauter, ADL Civil Rights Director. "Klan groups have witnessed a surprising and troubling resurgence by exploiting fears of an immigration explosion, and the debate over immigration has, in turn, helped to fuel an increase in Klan activity, with new groups sprouting in parts of the country that have not seen much activity."

The full ADL report includes a slide show of recent Klan meetings and rallies and a state-by-state listing of active Klan chapters, or "Klaverns," across the country.

ADL has identified the following states as being notable for active or growing Klan chapters:

SOUTH: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas

MIDWEST: Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan and Ohio
 
GREAT PLAINS: Iowa and Nebraska

MID-ATLANTIC: Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and West Virginia

The troubling Klan resurgence has manifested itself in a number of ways:

• Longstanding groups have increased their activity and experienced a rapid expansion in size.
• New groups have appeared, causing racial tensions in communities previously untroubled by racial issues.  They hold anti-immigration rallies and recruitment drives and distribute racist literature with a new emphasis on the immigration issue, and Hispanics.
• Klan groups have become more active in parts of the country that had not seen much activity in recent years, including the Great Plains States such as Iowa and Nebraska, and Mid-Atlantic states such as Maryland, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
• Klan groups increasingly are cooperating with neo-Nazi groups, especially the Minnesota-based National Socialist Movement.
• The Klan has adopted new publicity tricks, such as sending racist fliers to school teachers during Black History Month, and has embraced the Internet as a means to spread anti-Semitism and racism.  One group, the Empire Knights of the KKK, runs an Internet-based radio station, dubbed "KKK Radio," which broadcasts white power music and racist and anti-Semitic propaganda.

Reinventing the Klan

"Although some Klansmen may still hold cross-burnings dressed in robes and hoods, today's young Klansmen are more likely to look virtually indistinguishable from racist skinheads or neo-Nazis," said Ms. Lauter.  "Today's Klansmen may be as likely to gather at white power music concerts or socialize at so-called 'unity rallies' with other white supremacists, as to participate in ritualistic cross burnings in the rural wilderness."

Since the early 1990s, Klan groups have become increasingly "nazified," with members embracing and immersing themselves in neo-Nazi and racist skinhead subcultures, adopting the music, dress, tattoos and imagery of neo-Nazis, according to ADL.  Another trend has been "the collusion and cross-fertilization" of Klan chapters and other major American racist groups.

In March 2006, for example, about 80 members of the National Socialist Movement and various Klan groups met in Laurens, South Carolina, to discuss ways to increase cooperation.  Groups on hand for the event included the National Socialist Movement, Aryan Nations, the Griffin Knights of the KKK, the Teutonic Knights of the KKK and the Yahweh Knights of the KKK.

The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world's leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.

***

The article is written with an almost astonished perspective on the rise of specific KKK memberships over other white supremacy groups. If you consider the history of the Klan and that it has never gone away in a number of US States, then I would suppose this information is somewhat shocking. Like fire, hate spreads, consumes and destroys. Without the realisation of privilege and condemnation of it, homophobia, xenophobia and racism will continue to act in the exploitation, oppression and degradation of people. Without action, it will continue. Please go to the Anti-Defamation League's website to learn more about the issues we face and what you can do!