thisiswhiteprivilege - Tumblr blog

[thisiswhiteprivilege]

@white allies: because i see constant self-deprecation based on your whitness, here’s a detailed explanation of why it’s not helping us (or you).

if you continously go on about how horrible white people are, you may rot your own brain into thinking that these shortcomings are a natural state of being rather than a manufactured supremacist system which is simultaneously widespread, evil, and capable of being dismantled. 

recognizing that you have the same human compassion capabilities as everyone else, regardless of how alienated from them you have become, is the first step toward becoming a better person capabable of helping other people (of color).

don’t mirror the way that PoC talk about you as an oppressor class. the context is different, and the mindset that you develop from it is different.

don’t fall into a mindset where you (act as if you) are a morally compromised being for being white. the ultimate end of antiracism is to denaturalize racial hegemony, including virtuous moralization of the “oppressed”

evaluating your engagement in racism & the benefits you receive from white supremacy is only one piece of this process. the other piece is interacting with other people (of color) as if they are indeed the same species as you.

so instead of demoralizing yourself, look at your actions to determine if they are compassionate. academic stuff aside, this is often a good litmus test for racism; even the unintentional you will soon realize was often a failure to conceptualize how your actions would affect others- not a failure by some innate aspect of your race but by the normalized lack of consideration whiteness may afford you

[thisiswhiteprivilege]

“One of the most malevolent characteristics of racist thought is that it never produces new knowledge. It seems able to merely reformulate and refigure itself in multiple but static assertions. It has no referent in the material world; like the concept of black blood or white blood or blue blood, it is designed to construct artificial borders and maintain them against all reason and all evidence to the contrary. And while racist thought and language have an almost unmitigated force in political and social life, the realm of racial difference has been allowed an intellectual weight to which it has no claim. It is truly a realm that is no realm at all — an all-consuming vacancy that is both common and strange.”

— Toni Morrison  (via knowledgeequalsblackpower)

[thisiswhiteprivilege]

#1699

White privilege is not having to deal with your white female friends saying, “You should sleep with/date my white male friend, because he’s never been with your race (insert non-white ethnicity here) before.” We are a lot more than being an “exotic” checkmark on some white person’s bucket list.

[thisiswhiteprivilege]

I think for a lot of white people, when you call them out on their casual racism (microagressions and non-overt things), they see it as a case of hurt feelings from your point of view as opposed to a discussion of harmful practices that aid the vehicle of racism. So in response, they take it as a personal attack, rather than a learning experience, and go on the defensive by bringing up a time that you made them upset as leverage. Or they defend their actions by doubling down on the behavior at hand and dismissing your criticism as over sensitivity and emphasizing their “harmless” intent. And I think that is one of the reasons why it’s so hard to address casual and interpersonal racism with the general white population (and also other poc tbh).

[thisiswhiteprivilege]

‘Afro-Asian Solidarity’, Afro-Asian People’s Solidarity Movement, London, 1970.

[thisiswhiteprivilege]

I’m just super fucking bitter that once the flint water crisis got it’s 15 minutes of fame people stopped giving a shit. The water is still poisoned, people! Donations have plummeted and people have been forced back into drinking and bathing with the water! The medical effects of this are astounding, cases of legionnaires disease have skyrocketed, people are having seizures, people are having weird rashes break out over their body, people (including me!) are having their blood poisoned, and it’s not just lead! it’s coliform bacteria! it’s THMs! it’s all in the water and it gets into the bloodstream and breaks down blood vessels, causing bruising and petechiae and internal bleeding and no one gives a shit anymore and it’s only gotten worse like how many people are going to have to die until people realize this is still a problem

[thisiswhiteprivilege]

I love when people are like Japanese people in japan or Mexican people in Mexico don’t care about cultural appropriation lol stupid sjws. Friend do you know the diaspora experience is a completely different experience than growing up in your country of origin and never being shamed or shunned or criminalized for practicing your culture or looking different?

[thisiswhiteprivilege]

You need to see color because there is nothing wrong with color.

You need to see color so that you can lift up students’ perspectives.

You need to see color because your black and brown students do not have the luxury to unsee color.

[thisiswhiteprivilege]

undefined

They broke him. They broke that baby’s spirit. 😢

What’s sad about this is the government isn’t taking into account what these families go through!It might’ve only been 2 months but he is physically disengaged with his dad,does not know what is happening,why it’s happening, and he’ll be stuck with those feelings/memories forever!

[thisiswhiteprivilege]

How do we ensure public safety w/o police? Check out this list on alternatives to policing

Alternatives to Police (PDF) by Rose City Copwatch (2008)

Alternatives to the Police by Evan Dent, Molly Korab, and Farid Rener

The Avant-garde of White Supremacy by Steve Martinot and Jared Sexton

Broken Windows is On Hiatus: Community Interventions We Can Enact Now for Real Justice by Hannah Hodson

Can We Build an Anti-Policing Movement that Isn’t Anti-Police? by Radical Faggot

Citizens, Cops, and Power: Recognizing the Limits of Community by Steve Herbert

Feeling for the Edge of your Imagination: finding ways not to call the police

A New Year’s Resolution: Don’t Call the Police by Mike Ludwig

Not Calling the Police by Prison Culture

Origins of the Police by David Whitehouse

The Other Side of the COIN (PDF) by Kristian Williams.

Policing is a Dirty Job, But Nobody’s Gotta Do It: 6 Ideas for a Cop-Free World by Jose Martin

Policing Slaves Since the 1600s by Auandaru Nirhan

The Shanti Sena ‘peace center’ and the non-policing of an anarchist temporary autonomous zone: Rainbow Family peacekeeping strategies (PDF) by Michael Niman

Stop Kidding Yourself: The Police Were Created to Control Working Class and Poor People by Sam Mitrani

We Don’t Just Need Nicer Cops. We Need Fewer Cops by Alex S. Vitale

What Does It Mean to Be Anti-Police? by Alex S. Vitale

Where abolition meets action: women organizing against gender violence (PDF) by Vikki Law

[thisiswhiteprivilege]

These are children

Children are being made to represent themselves in immigration court

[thisiswhiteprivilege]

Clip ‘n save.

[thisiswhiteprivilege]

I drew this comic last year for the New Frontiers anthology. It’s very intensely personal– but I’m glad I got an excuse to make a piece about these struggles.

The grandmother I mentioned in this comic passed away in December last year. I started this year with her funeral, visiting her house in Brownsville, a city in the Rio Grande Valley: my home by the border. I hold on to a lot of pieces of her life now. I wear her wooden prayer bracelets, I slip my hands into her gloves. I hope get the hang of the language someday.

[thisiswhiteprivilege]

4.645 PEOPLE.

Mainstream media moved on from the Puerto Rico hurricane story way, way, way too soon. A catastrophic mistake.

[thisiswhiteprivilege]

[thisiswhiteprivilege]

Brooklyn Bail Fund