Comments on: The Concept of White-Washing

By: Aliza Borker

Aliza Borker — Sun, 11 Dec 2016 20:27:13 +0000

I really agree with your post! I feel like we constantly are hearing comments like the one you opened with but we never know how to confront them. I feel that our society has this norm to be PC and sometimes being PC is somewhat implicit racism. When trying to be PC it is easy to hide behind what one is saying and ignore the truth as it may not seem PC. Who created PC and why do we always need to be PC as it may cause more harm than we think. It is definitely a confusing aspect of our society and sometimes an area that people do not want to talk about because it isn’t “right.”

By: Melinda Troyka

Melinda Troyka — Sat, 10 Dec 2016 19:15:52 +0000

I have defintitely had experiences with people like this. My roommate (who is Black) was telling me that one of her best friends from home has kind of racist parents. The friend would say things like, “Oh, but they don’t not like you, you’re not like that, they just don’t like how Black people ….” etc, etc. I don’t really know how to respond to comments like this. It’s so much more than just being PC. When you just happen to only like the Black people who act White, then maybe you do have something against Black people. It might seem like someone is being over sensitive, but people who make accusations of sensitivity are not targeted by comments like this in any way or effected by it, so it would seem like it’s not a big deal to them. But invalidating someone’s identity like that is not any small issue.

By: Haleigh Jacob

Haleigh Jacob — Wed, 30 Nov 2016 18:38:19 +0000

I’ve definitely felt what you outline in your last paragraph. It’s really disheartening to be told you’re being overly sensitive. I try to remember that the people who say things like “everyone is too PC” have a misunderstanding of what they’re being asked to do when us “bleeding heart liberals” ask them to consider that what they just said may have been offensive. I think many people perceive it as if they’re simply being asked to censor themselves – they feel as if they’re being stifled just so they won’t hurt someone’s feelings. However, what we’re actually asking, I believe, is for them to see that their actions and words have a much deeper and profoundly harmful effect on PoC than just hurt feelings. How do we more accurately convey this message in conversation? I think we can potentially find the answer in the process of engaging with more of these people who say things like “everyone is too PC.” Let’s dig deeper. Let’s find out more about how they feel and why they feel that way. It might help us better get our messages across in the end.

By: Jenna Gainsboro

Jenna Gainsboro — Tue, 15 Nov 2016 22:55:50 +0000

I totally agree with your comments! I can also totally recall people saying similar things to the quote that you opened with. It is very interesting the way that people can try to justify themselves.