Race Basics: The Trouble With White People

 

The whole article is worth reading, but if you don’t have time, here are some highlights:

 

“In this struggle we can’t give up on white people. I know this will disappoint some more militant (or maybe just sick and tired) readers, but unless we can move more whites onto our side, we will never end racism.

But, whites’ relative proximity to power doesn’t make them evil, just more influential.

The white middle class in the U.S. rose from the rubble of the Great Depression as a result of an economic stimulus package of programs and policies that was won by the Roosevelt administration. But winning that package of programs required cutting a deal with racially conservative Southern legislators that made Roosevelt’s stimulus racially exclusive.

Those government programs that created the white middle class were paid for by every worker, including workers of color.

Race is a cage that keeps all but the most powerful among us trapped in perpetual insecurity, fighting against one another for privileges rather than with one another for power. But the bars of that cage are tempered not just by privilege but by fear.

We need to approach the project of winning racial justice as a struggle against fear.

In order to win against racism, we need more than criticism of those who appear to be hoarding the goods. We need solutions that make room in our still far from complete democracy for all of us so that none of us need fear exclusion, exploitation, and the humiliation of being denied basic human dignity. And isn’t that what justice is all about anyway?”

 
See on www.racefiles.com

Neil DeGrasse Tyson Says What He Thinks About Race and Oppression

 

When you press play it should jump to around the 1:01:00 mark where Tyson answers a question for about 4 or 5 minutes.

 

 

Community Village‘s insight:

 

Thank you to @TheCharlesiWas for sharing this.

See on www.upworthy.com

Moving The Race Conversation Forward

 

http://www.raceforward.org/research/r…

Moving the Race Conversation Forward is a report by Race Forward: The Center for Racial Justice Innovation that aims to reshape and reform the way we talk about race and racism in our country. The paper includes content analysis of mainstream media (finding two-thirds of race-focused media coverage fails to consider systemic racism), analysis of seven harmful racial discourse practices, and case studies of successful interventions to counteract these trends.

The accompanying video, produced by Jay Smooth, expands in an accessible way on the report’s analysis of media’s failure to consider systemic racism. Smooth is the founder of New York’s longest running hip-hop radio show, WBAI’s Underground Railroad, and Race Forward Video & Multimedia Producer.”
See on www.youtube.com

Race Forward: Moving the Race Conversation Forward

 

“We looked at nearly 1,200 articles and transcripts from the highest circulation newspapers and cable TV outlets across the country to better understand the portrait that mainstream media paints of contemporary racism,” said Race Forward research director Dominique Apollon. “The majority of coverage gives readers the impression that racism is simply a personal failing, or even worse, that racism is no longer a problem at all.”

 

The seven harmful racial discourse practices include:

  • Individualizing Racism
  • Falsely Equating Incomparable Acts
  • Diverting From Race
  • Portraying Government as Overreaching
  • Prioritizing (Policy) Intent over Impact
  • Condemning Through Coded Language
  • Silencing History

Our Multimedia Producer Jay Smooth created a video to kick off the analysis, and to help recognize these harmful practices. We hope you’ll watch, share, and discuss the report and video!

 

Sincerely,

Rinku Sen
President and Executive Director, Race Forward

 

Community Village‘s insight:

 

Love for Rinku Sen, Jay Smooth and Race Foward!

See on www.raceforward.org

Rule No. 1: Notice Difference

My son has taken to calling himself Black as he has learned that Black is a culture/ethnic heritage and not necessarily a skin color. At school someone overheard him say, “Cause I’m Black!

 

Community Village‘s insight:

 

This blog is one of the best I’ve run accross in speaking insightful truth about race relations. Even if you are not a parent or a transracial parent, it’s still a good blog – quality insightful writing from a mom who is a great asset to our community of truth tellers and oppression fighters.

 

In this article she explains that it’s not racist to notice physical difference. However, when someone mentions race when it’s not relevant to the story or when they try to spin the story to demonize a certain group, that is racist.

 

@getgln

See on www.transracialparenting.com

Claire Jean Kim – Racial Triangulation

From Sevly Snguon’s post: My Asian-American Awakening: Realizing that I am a Person of Color

 

Community Village‘s insight:

 

In this diagram do you think the placement of each group is accuratly depicted?

 

Where would Native Americans and Xican@s/Latin@s be depicted?

 

Add the categories – physical superiority, mental superiority, family unity superiority and watch the graph change.

 

Although this diagram is an oversimplification, it’s useful to make useful points about stereotyping and discrimination. Combine this diagram with incarceration stastics and Michelle Alexander’s book The New Jim Crow and the dots connect and makes sense. This is a depiction of American’s distorted perception of our cultures.

 

@getgln

See on sevlysnguon.wordpress.com