Whaddayamean racist way to denounce racism? What did I miss…
Whaddayamean racist way to denounce racism? What did I miss…
Oh, don't mind me. I just get a little picky, sometimes. And one of those times is when people use skin color in the same sentence in which they're accusing others of racism, looking down on others for being racist, etc.
Why?
Because to my way of thinking, people to whom skin color is *not* a significant, defining feature of a person wouldn't bother showcasing it in a sentence. They'd talk about people generically. For example, they'd say/write "someone built an igloo", not "a black person built an igloo".
I mean, maybe I'm just losing my mind on this. But to me the word 'black' is unnecessary in that last sentence *unless* it matters to the speaker/writer, unless there's some important message - even if subconscious - being communicated that leaving the skin color word out wouldn't communicate.
Here's maybe an even better example:
"It's racist to discriminate against black people."
Well, what's so wrong with merely "it's racist to discriminate"? Doesn't that cover more people? Doesn't that refrain from implying there actually is a group of people whose being/behavior is in some way(s) defined by the color of their skin?
I just think language matters. Especially when re-peated, given how re-ality seems to be whatever we mentally re-peat about it most....
OK… Here's my 2¢.
I came up in a region and era—Swedish 1980s—where that kind of "let's never speak of the groups" policy reigned — "colorblindness" — and what ended up happening then and there was that racism towards black people happened, but, was underreported and underdiscussed because it was taboo to think about it or talk about it.
A lot of instances of discrimination were hidden under "It's just person A interacting with person B". We couldn't see any forest, just looking at one individual tree at a time.
I def get it in the igloo example, or like how rock bands with girls hate being reduced to "girl bands".
You really need to case-by-case this stuff.
The reason the slogan "Black Lives Matter" came about is that there is a group of people whose… not behavior, or being, but their… reception, treatment, including from law enforcement and some parts of the media, is as if their lives seemingly didn't matter as much.
The slogan started after Zimmerman's acquittal. The intent is to get across that some of Zimmerman's statements and actions (including killing Martin) and parts of the justice system are racist. Saying "Don't shoot people", while a fine slogan, would tells part of the story there.
It'd look like the shooting (and the acquittal) had nothing to do with racism. It'd hide racism.
Only way to end discrimination is to speak frankly about discrimination.