ibarw--or go fuck yourself, [redacted 'cause holly said not to use racial slurs] : comments [Don't leave a voicemail, seriously.]

It's ignorance, but people who believe in reverse racism just cannot see how impossible that is in a society like ours. For white people, it takes a very in-depth self-awareness of privilege and power dynamics to get that. And there are just so many fucked up things wrong with the terminology, like the way whites use it to co-opt, undermine and make superficial centuries of systematic abuse, prejudice and ignorance. And the addition of 'reverse' to the term itself somehow insinuates that this is racism that's not the norm, not like REAL, NORMAL racism, which is against the Other (minorities). REVERSE racism is the WEIRD, EXTRAORDINARY experience of WHITE PEOPLE being treated poorly! Who would want to dislike white people, absurd!..Anyway, if it was really RACISM, to dislike someone because they're white, wouldn't you just call it racism, without the 'reverse'? How fucked up is that?

ANYWAY, IT'S INFURIATING AND I HAVE NOTHING I CAN SAY BUT AUGH! I wish people would stop being so knee-jerkingly reactive about being told "That's a racist statement" and would instead realize that racism isn't all Jim Crow laws and cross burning, racism is the everyday, basic ignorances and stereotypes, right below the surface, that impact and guide the way we talk, think, what we listen to, watch, read, believe.

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Whatever, everyone knows that anything YOU say is tainted by your...crazypants. Clearly you are confirming that these people are totally sound and correct in their belief in reverse racism, the scourge of Obama America!

Next you'll be saying that most people who get raped are women.

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bwahaha, I ALMOST JUST ERASED this comment because I KNEW if people saw it, they'd be like "OH, THERE'S ONELITTLESLEEP, BEING WANKY. THIS IS JUST ONE OF *THOSE* RIDICULOUS THINGS SHE WANKS ABOUT, OBVIOUSLY."

UGH.

ALSO. I can really pointedly say that my own fuckin' realization about this shit happened VERY LATE. I am humiliated to admit that it wasn't long ago when I would have been like "Wait, what?" about someone saying "there's no such thing as reverse racism!" VERY RECENTLY I went to my husband all DISCONCERTED and IRRITATED and said "I DON'T THINK THIS...REVERSE RACISM SHIT IS REAL!" and he was like "YES, I KNOW," and I was like "OMG, WTF HAVE I BEEN THINKING FOR SO LONG! AUGH!"

I think in a lot of ways, political correctness has actually exacerbated problems for me. Political correctness takes care of superficial, surface attitudes and behaviors, but doesn't really allow people to experience the profound fuckedupedness of their internalized racism and prejudice, because everyone's just being SO NICE and not saying what's in their hearts. And if what's in their hearts is ROTTEN or confused or SICK, they might never say something stupid enough for someone to be like "THAT IS NOT OK." And call them on it.

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Yeah, I think you're right about that. But I also think we're transitioning into a post-PC world where people realize that the hard realities have to be faced and the harsh words have to said. So we have Prez O saying "fuck those racist cops anyway" and Prof Gates refusing to back down, and even if there's a shitstorm the only thing that happens is tempering a bit, but NOT recanting. We have a long-ass way to go, but I think we might be on the path now. Maybe. I am a bit more hopeful.

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No, DUDE, don't be embarrassed because I am completely with you. I live in the South, from (statistically) the WHITEST COUNTY in my state, and I had some really effed up ideas about race. Like, stuff that's maybe kind of funny now, but also HORRIFYING. It took getting out of my small town and going to college at a big university before I started to realize how skewed my worldview was.

I completely agreed with reverse racism, because I was like, "Oh, yes, black people have been rude to me," and I know that was so, so stupid in retrospect, (LOL, FAIL, ME) but there you go. It doesn't matter if you're late to the boat -- at least you got on the boat!

People interchange the words prejudice and racism when they really shouldn't, but I feel like a lot of them would... understand that they're wrong if you just explained to them that, No, racism is not about the color of skin, it is about power, authority, belief in superiority, and hundreds of years of ALL that shit. Prejudice is an entirely different beast, and hell yes there are blacks who are prejudiced against whites; there are whites who are prejudiced against other whites. But that's not racism. And arguing that "semantics" doesn't change anything, just, FLAMES. OF RAGE. ON THE SIDES OF MY FACE.

Anyway, the conclusion of this ramble is, you're totes not alone.

And, hahaha, sorry, I can never think of racism and PC without thinking of Dave Chappelle's skit on racism: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4WoAnty748

Edited Date: 2009-08-02 12:49 am (UTC)

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I think in a lot of ways, political correctness has actually exacerbated problems for me. Political correctness takes care of superficial, surface attitudes and behaviors, but doesn't really allow people to experience the profound fuckedupedness of their internalized racism and prejudice, because everyone's just being SO NICE and not saying what's in their hearts.

Whereas I totally clicked "post comment" to go into an extended rant how apparently "reverse racism" was becoming the next PC. "political correctness" and "reverse racism" are phrases that - to my perception - have origin stories so similar it's like RR was caught in the same freak chemical accident as PC and gave them the same superpower (problematising behaviour that is not problematic). They are both terms invented by right wing assholes to stop people from calling them on their racist, sexist, classist bullshit because if you do it they have this magical stick to beat you with - OMG YOU REVERSE RACIST. Or you say "hey, maybe we should be thinking about some of the thing we're saying about beneficiaries in this press release" - OMG YOU'RE SO PC. Neither of these sticks are valid sticks, because the behaviour of calling someone on their racist behaviours, just like the behaviour of trying to NOT use your language to oppress people, are behaviours that should be rewarded, not problematised.

Anyway, that was my rant, sorry to dump it on you as a stranger.

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They are both terms invented by right wing assholes to stop people from calling them on their racist, sexist, classist bullshit because if you do it they have this magical stick to beat you with - OMG YOU REVERSE RACIST.

YES. And I was reading this article linked from

ibarw's delicious and the writer said something interesting, lemme link: Getting people to think of racism solely as a diagnostic tool for ranking the goodness, rightness, and therefore authority/prestige, of white people, rather than as a system of violent oppression of people of colour: that must count as one of the biggest victories for the anti-civil-rights backlash.

I think this is relevant to what you're saying, because if acknowledging racism degrades into this "You're a racist!" "NO, YOU are the REVERSE racist!" name-calling back-forth, it becomes just a judgment of a person's goodness and rightness, which centers then on the abuser and not the abused, and diffuses and undermines the impact of the discussion and the confrontation of racism where it's found. WHICH IS SO F'ED UP, YOU KNOW? I GUESS?

From here: http://nowandrome.blogspot.com/2009/07/there-were-people-of-colour-in-past-too.html

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