Race and racism anon meme thing

[dreamer_easy]

International Blog Against Racism Week begins tomorrow, 6 August. Before the week officially starts, I'd like to try something a bit dodgy.

For the next twenty-four hours, you can leave an anonymous message here with any questions you have about race or racism. IP logging is off and there are no LJ Toys or other IP-capturing stuff to worry about.

I know many people are afraid to say or ask things about these subjects, for fear of looking stupid or causing offence. I'll delete anything that's obviously just supposed to be abusive, and anything that uses insulting words, but otherwise, anything goes. POC, please be warned: that means there may be annoying, frustrating, or offensive material - you may prefer not to read the comments left here.

I can't guarantee answers to questions that are posted, but I will try to respond if I can. I won't judge or lecture anyone for honest curiosity or confusion. (Keep in mind I'm just a well-meaning White middle-class liberal, and no expert on racial issues.)

The twenty-four hours is up, folks! You can still post anonymously, but IP logging is back on. Thanks for your comments!

Comments

[brownbetty]

You are quite correct. The best answer I have to your comment is insults and rudeness, but this isn't my lj, so I shall take my leave.

[purrdence.livejournal.com]

I personally haven't encountered any of these extremists who "see everything in terms of race"

There are a minority of Aboriginal students at my school who come to school just to hang out with their friends in class and don't want to do any work. If they are reprimanded for their disruptive behaviour, the first thing they'll say is "You're only picking on me because I'm black." It's really frustrating, because it makes the rest of the Aboriginal students who do the right thing look bad.

[kateorman.livejournal.com]

They don't sound like extremists to me; they sound like brats!

[pbristow.livejournal.com]

"Person X really can't do a whole lot to ensure that person Y doesn't do something crummy to person Z when person X isn't around, right?"

That's right as far as it goes, but there's always the chance that one day such an event will occur when you *are* around and are in a position to do something about it. If you're aware of, and care about, the underlying the issue, then you *may* be be able to figure out what the right response is and make it. If you are blind to the issue, then you definitely can't.

Caring about the issue doesn't automatically lead to knoewing how to solve it; it does, however, increase the chances of someday being able to make a positive contribution. Also, just *knowing* that you care - that you are on "emotional standby" for that day when an opportunity to help comes along - will probably be a source of comfort/support to your friend in the meantime.

"I would think that given that there's not a whole lot which an uninvolved person can do in that case, making sure that one isn't the one causing the problem would be good - and that is best done by not being overly concerned with race as a concept, right?"

Yes and no. There's a difference between "being [...] concerned with race as a concept" and "being concerned with racism as a phenomenon", that I think is getting lost in much of this discussion.

[purrdence.livejournal.com]

If you are going by the "see everything in terms of race", those particular students do. While I'd say about 2/3s of the student and staff population is of Anglo/European descent, the other 1/3 is made of people of other ethnic/skin colour groups (Chinese, Arabic, Aboriginal, African, African American, Indian, Vietnamese etc) and that small (and vocal) group of Aboriginal students are the only one that pull the 'skin colour card' if things don't go their way. They may be brats now, but they're growing up into extremists.

[thegameiam.livejournal.com]

good point, about the difference between race and racism.

I think that being decent to everyone one encounters is a positive thing, and I think that treating people as individuals rather than members of a group is also a positive thing.

[kateorman.livejournal.com]

A lot of teachers would be discombobulated by White Guilt if students pulled that trick on them. How do you handle it, when it happens?

[hnpcc]

In one of those "I seriously don't believe they managed to do that" moments, take a look at this. I don't think it's intentional, but seriously? Oh. My. God.

Oops.

[kateorman.livejournal.com]

*jawdangle*

[kateorman.livejournal.com]

Sorry about that Islamophobic nut, Grant. I've banninated him, and I'm screening anonymous comments now, so I can just delete his conspiracy theories.

I have no doubt that, especially post-9/11, Muslim Australians sometimes experience a frisson of fear in the presence of Anglo Australians. After all, we're more likely to shout abuse at them, or rip off their headscarves, etc. Of course, only a small number of Anglos would ever engage in threatening, violent behaviour like that, but of course statistically we're the ones most likely to do it.

[angriest.livejournal.com]

I meant to reply the other day and got distracted...

My thinking is that even if every terrorist attack in the developed world in the past 7 years has been committed by a radicalised Moslem, you're still looking at a tiny minority of people among over a billion Moslems worldwide, most of whom are intelligent, rational, wonderful people.

It is fundamentally wrong to fear all of Islam because of the actions and intentions of a violent minority who have distorted their religious ideals to allow for racist, murderous zealotry, just as it would be fundamentally wrong to fear all Christians because of some crazy evangelicals blowing up abortion clinics or lynching black and gay people. It's not what we do.

[kateorman.livejournal.com]

Basically, it'd be like refusing to leave your house in case of meteorites.

[angriest.livejournal.com]

In Japan, in the one year (1995) they had both the Hanshin earthquake and the Aum Shinri Kyo subway gas attack.

The gas attack killed 12 people, severely injured 54 and affected about 980 people.

The earthquake killed 6,436 people, injured tens of thousands more, and cost Japan 2.5% of its GDP (about 10 trillion yen) in damage.

Why do we fear the arbitrary death from one so much more than the other?

[(Anonymous)]

That doesn't really answer any of the questions, does it?

[kateorman.livejournal.com]

"White" and "non-White" are real categories, with real effects in the real world. But they're arbitrary categories invented by humans. I look forward to a future where it would be meaningless to describe someone as a POC or myself as White.

[(Anonymous)]

I agree.

But that doesn't really answer the main question about the quasi-Marxist ideology that you seem to implicitly accept, and that seems to lead to identity politics and factionalisation?

Why not deal with actual racists and racist prejudices instead of buying into this bogus historicity of 'everything's a power struggle', and jumping at shadows?

We'll never get that future you look forward to if you keep encouraging a politics of 'us and them' confrontation.

[kateorman.livejournal.com]

To be honest, you sound hung up on terminology and ideology.

Belatedly

[kateorman.livejournal.com]

Dude - you should write this up in your LJ, and notify the ibarw folks that they should link it.