by BLACKPAST | August 2012
…But anger expressed and translated into action in the service of our vision af!d our future is a liberating and strengthening act of clarification, for it is in the painful process of this translation that we identify who are our allies with whom we have grave differences, and who are our genuine enemies. Anger is loaded with information and energy. When I speak of women of Color, I do not only mean Black women. The woman of Color who is not Black and who charges me with rendering her invisible by assuming that her struggles with racism are identical with my own has something to tell me that I had better learn from, lest we both waste ourselves fighting the truths between us. If I participate, knowingly or otherwise, in my sister’s oppression and she calls me on it, to answer her anger with my own only blankets the substance of our exchange with reaction. It wastes energy. And yes, it is very difficult to stand still and to listen to another woman’s voice delineate an agony I do not share, or one to which I myself have contributed.
TAGS: [Collective Action] [2010’s] [White Privilege] [White Defensiveness] [Individual Change] [White Blindness] [Accountability]
Resource Links Tagged with "White Blindness"
Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People about Race
by Reni Eddo-Lodge | May 2017
For years, racism has been defined by the violence of far-right extremists, but a more insidious kind of prejudice can be found where many least expect it – at the heart of respectable society. We tell ourselves that good people can’t be racist. We seem to think that true racism only exists in the hearts of evil people. We tell ourselves that racism is about moral values, when instead it is about the survival strategy of systemic power. When a large proportion of the population votes for politicians and political efforts that explicitly use racism as a campaigning tool, we tell ourselves that such huge sections of the electorate simply cannot be racist, as that would render them heartless monsters.
TAGS: [Strategies] [2010’s] [White Blindness] [White Privilege] [Black Lives Matter] [Policing] [History] [Systemic Racism] [Colorblindness]
Polite White People Are Useless
by Damon Young | August 2017
Polite white people—specifically, polite white people who call for decorum instead of disruption when attempting to battle and defeat bias and hate—aren’t as paradoxical as tits on a bull. But they’re just as useless. They provide no value, they move no needles, they carry no weight (metaphysically and literally) and they ultimately just get in the way. They’re humanity’s tourists: the 54-mile-per-hour drivers in the left lane refusing to get the {} out of the way so others can pass. And if you get enough of them in one place, they cause accidents. Unfortunately, they’re every{}where. They’re on Facebook threads and sitting behind you at work. They’re your neighbors and (sometimes) your family members.
TAGS: [Individual Change] [2010’s] [White Blindness]
White People, The Philando Castile Acquittal Should Make You Mad as Hell
by Zenobia Jeffries Warfield | June 2017
It is a fact that Black and Brown people are herded through the prison system at higher rates, are killed by police officers at higher rates, and are not allowed the same privileges in this country as most of you, especially when it comes to receiving justice. That is the reality the country has been built on. People who are not White are treated as less than human because The System was designed by and for White people. So how does a system designed to benefit Whites also export and fail them?
TAGS: [Racial Terrorism] [2010’s] [Prison System] [Police Shootings] [White Blindness]
Boston. Racism. Image. Reality.
by Akilah Johnson | December 2017
Google the phrase “Most racist city,” and Boston pops up more than any other place, time and time again.
It may be easy to write that off as a meaningless digital snapshot of what people say about us, and what we say about ourselves — proof of little beyond the dated (or, hopefully, outdated) memories of Boston’s public and fierce school desegregation battles of the 1970s. You’d be wrong. More than half of people of color interviewed “rated Boston as unwelcoming.” The Spotlight team takes on our hardest question.
TAGS: [Assumptions] [2010’s] [Systemic Racism] [Economics] [White Blindness] [White Culture] [Myths] [History]
‘Mudbound’ Has More To Say About Whiteness In America Than Any Other Trump-Era Movie
By Zeba Blay | November 2017
A person doesn’t have to be hateful in order to be racist. The new Netflix movie “Mudbound,” directed by Dee Rees, is an epic about race in the Deep South in the aftermath of World War II. It is also, in a way, about something that happened a few weeks ago. “The other day,” Rees told me recently, “I was in my pajamas getting ready to walk my dog in the building where I live.” A white guy, “trying to be friendly,” struck up a conversation. “Oh,” he asked, “are you with the dog walking service? Can I get your card?”
TAGS: [White Blindness] [Systemic Racism] [Assumptions] [2010’s] [White Culture] [-ing While Black] [Art & Culture]
Color-Blindness is Counterproductive
by Adia Harvey Wingfield | September 2015
Many sociologists argue that ideologies claiming not to see race risk ignoring discrimination. How many times have you heard someone say that they “don’t see color,” “are colorblind,” or “don’t have a racist bone in their body?” Maybe you’ve even said this yourself. After all, the dominant language around racial issues today is typically one of colorblindness, as it’s often meant to convey distaste for racial practices and attitudes common in an earlier era. TAGS: [White Blindness] [Assumptions] [2010’s] [Politics] [History] [Systemic Racism]
Racism: Why Whites Have Trouble “Getting It”
by Greg Boyd | February 2016
Most white people I know sincerely believe they live in a country that is, for the most part, a land of equal opportunity that is mostly free of racism. Yes, we all see the occasional overt racism that erupts now and then in America, and most of us are genuinely revolted by this. But we tend to see these events, and the attitudes behind them, as rather atypical of America as a whole. And, yes, most of us white folks know at least a little bit of the shocking statistics of disparity in America (e.g. young black males are statistically more likely to end up in prison than to go to college). But given our operative assumptions about America, we whites often either refuse to believe these statistics or, more commonly, we find ways to explain them away.
TAGS: [White Blindness] [Assumptions] [2010’s] [Tips-Dos/Don’ts]
For White Women Learning Calculus in a School Building on Fire
*Paywall Alert-2 free stories per month
by Jennifer Harvey | October 2018
Here we sit, with ever more evidence that massive racial failure on the part of white women is at the center of this political crisis. At the root of it all is our collective choice to not learn, prioritize, or consistently live in public antiracist solidarity with communities of color, and especially with women of color.
TAGS: [White Supremacy] [2010’s] [Assumptions] [White Blindness] [Accountability] [Implicit Racism]
John Leguizamo Just Nailed the Hypocrisy of People of Color Having to Learn White Culture
by Matthew Rodriguez | July 2016
In a video interview with Big Think posted July 16, 2016, the 51-year-old award-winning actor and playwright spoke about the inequities of forcing people of color to learn white culture without white culture reciprocating.
TAGS: [Assumptions] [White Culture] [2010’s] [White Blindness]
It’s Time to Get Over Your White Feelings and Start Taking Action for Black Lives
by Ann Friedman | August 2016
There’s a protest sign I’ve seen at several marches and sit-ins this summer that reads, “Black lives matter more than white feelings.” If, like me, you’re a white person who believes deeply that black lives matter, it’s easy to read that sign as commentary on other white people — the ones who support Donald Trump because they “feel voiceless.” … But the white feelings called into question by that protest sign aren’t just the anger and alienation of Trump supporters. They are also the fear and guilt and perceived helplessness of white people who want to end the epidemic of state-sanctioned violence against black Americans. People like me and you and every white person we know who posts messages of grief each time a new name becomes a hashtag. It’s easy for us to stand back and criticize Trump supporters for putting anger and fear above facts. It can be much harder for white people who support racial justice to realize just how hung up on our own feelings we are.
TAGS: [Collective Action] [2010’s] [White Fragility/Tears] [White Blindness] [Accountability] [Individual Change] [Anti-Racism]
Two White Women Launch ‘White Nonsense Roundup’ to Unburden People of Color (VIDEO)
by Egberto Willies | July 2016
Racial strife has exploded in America once again. Two Washington state women believe ‘White Nonsense Roundup’ could play a part in educating and healing and “to unburden people of color from social media ‘race-splainig.’” I titled my Sunday DailyKOS front page article with the provocative headline “Black Lives Matter needs white bodies” for a very particular reason. I figured using the ambiguous term would get more eyeballs to a story that needed more visibility. The feedback from the article was much more than I expected, good, bad, and indifferent. One particular email piqued my interest. The email suggested that I get in touch with Terri Kempton and Layla Tromble in Washington state. These two women launched the Facebook page ‘White Nonsense Roundup‘ hoping to be a part of the solution……
TAGS: [Collective Action] [2010’s] [Black Lives Matter] [Accountability] [White Privilege] [Systemic Racism] [Individual Change] [“All Lives Matter”] [White Fragility/Tears] [White Blindness]
Police Officers Not Indicted in Fatal Shooting of Henry Green
by John Futty | March 2017
More than nine months after two plainclothes Columbus police officers fatally shot Henry Green on a South Linden street, a Franklin County grand jury chose on Friday not to indict them on criminal charges.
The grand jury voted not to indict Officer Jason Bare or Officer Zachary Rosen for their actions. Bare and Rosen were wearing civilian clothes and patrolling in an unmarked SUV on the evening of June 6 when they saw Green, 23, and a friend walking in the area of Duxberry Avenue and Ontario Street and noticed that Green was holding a handgun, police said. According to the police division’s account, the officers jumped from the SUV and ordering Green to drop his gun. Instead, police said, Green pointed his gun at the officers and fired. The officers returned fire and killed Green, who was shot seven times.
Christian Rutledge, who was walking with Green, disputed the police account, saying Bare and Rosen gave no indication that they were officers and gave Green no time to react.
TAGS: [Racial Terrorism] [2010’s] [Police Shootings] [Policing] [Systemic Racism] [Black Lives Matter] [Accountability] [White Supremacy] [White Privilege] [White Blindness] [Systemic Racism]
BUSTED: Cops Caught on Video Pepper-Spraying Handcuffed Biracial Girl — after a Car Hit Her
by David Ferguson | September 2016
Police in Hagerstown, MD are under fire after a video surfaced showing them pepper-spraying a handcuffed teen girl after she tried to leave the scene after being struck by a vehicle. The Hagerstown Herald-Mail reported Wednesday that a Facebook video of police manhandling the 15-year-old girl has got the police department scrambling to explain itself. According to Flicker, the girl — who is the daughter of a white mother and a black father — was riding her bike on Sunday afternoon when she was struck by a car.
TAGS: [Racial Terrorism] [2010’s] [-ing While Black] [Policing] [White Supremacy] [Systemic Racism] [Accountability] [White Blindness] [Silencing POC] [White Privilege]
I’m Tired, but I’m Not Finished: Are We Ready to Call it Racism Now?
by Edward Rhymes | June 2015
It seems we live in an American society that is hellbent on euthanizing black hope and injecting our despair and frustration with adrenaline. We abide in a country that counts our lives as cheap, and through brutal conditioning has taught too many us to feel the same. White mass killers are apprehended by police alive, black children, just walking home are not. Nothing to see here, people, it’s just a 12-year-old boy gunned down by police. Keep moving along, citizens, it’s just another unarmed black man killed by a cop. Just stroll on by, folks, racism had absolutely nothing to do with the killing of those nine black people attending a Bible study, even though they were killed by a self-proclaimed white supremacist.
TAGS: [Racial Terrorism] [2010’s] [White Supremacy] [White Blindness] [White Privilege] [-ing While Black] [Systemic Racism] [Policing] [Calling Police] [Black Lives Matter] [History]
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Dear White People
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Dear White People
Being Allies
Reparations
Spiritual Foundations
Public Displays
Performance Art
Workshops
Activist Resources
Assessment Tools
History
Appropriation / Aggression
White Privilege / Supremacy
Introduction
Definitions
Facts
Maps
Dear White People
Being Allies
Reparations
Spiritual Foundations
Public Displays
Performance Art
Workshops
Activist Resources
Assessment Tools
History
Appropriation / Aggression
White Privilege / Supremacy
Introduction
Definitions
Facts