observations or questions on how/why to talk about race and racism with others
Ezra: What are you saying? Mo: Black people and white people will never be cool, period. Ezra: What the f* are you talking about? Mo: The truth dog. Ezra: You’re my best friend and business partner. Mo: Yea, that’s how powerful this sh*t is bro. It’s kind of like when you cheat on a woman right? When you cheat on a woman you try and move forward but you never can. Why? ‘cause she just …
What makes a class good? That thought crossed my head frequently this semester. And it often happened under recurring circumstances, as I would walk out of a class that was quite frustrating to get through. Fifteen minutes after this class ended, one of my most thought provoking and important classes began, Contemporary Racism. The dichotomy of these two classes really got me in a comparative headspace, also due to the fact that both classes attempted …
Fear is an emotion that affects how we as humans shape our lives, influencing decisions, and interactions that we have. While it is a tricky emotion, it has the ultimate power of not only negatively affecting but can give someone the push that they need. That being said, I want to explore how fear relates to racism and how people have race talks. In Dr. Sue’s chapter, “The Characteristics and Dynamics of Race Talk,” there …
“Is there a lot of crime in this area?” This was a question that my family member asked while we were driving in the car through Troy and Albany, New York. When we were driving through these cities, I noticed that the buildings seemed to be more run-down and that there was a lot of poverty in the area; a direct effect of redlining. When my relative asked this question, I instantly thought back to …
A month ago, I would have been so utterly offended if someone tried to claim that I am racist, but now I read numerous articles each week explaining why every white person feeds the racism in our society and cannot help but agree. In no way am I proud to contribute to systematic injustices (especially those targeted at individuals due to their racial identity), yet I will humbly admit that my own ignorance encourages segregation …
When using the search engine of Google as your primary method of acquiring informational resources, you would hope that the generated sources would hold an abundance of factual and unbiased information. Good arguments are founded on premises that are in fact true, and the logic that follows that groundwork must be valid and sensible. Think back to the basic spelling tests and mathematical problems taught by your elementary school teachers. Did you ever doubt that …
The first critical step that one must take in engaging in antiracist practices is beginning the conversation. If you have already been a part of a few conversations, congratulations! You have gotten over the hurdle of being so barred by fear by dipping your toes into the emotionally daunting topic of RACISM. But your work is only just beginning, as the journey of being a truly engaged person in antiracism work requires constant introspection, reading, …
In a nation where the air we breathe is polluted with the ideologies of Whiteness, People of Color are faced with two options: choke on the smog or put on a mask. While it would be ideal for one not to choke on smog, there’s two reasons why a POC wouldn’t wear it. One would be that no matter how hard they try, they just cannot find a mask that’s capable of blocking out this …
If someone were to describe you, what are the first things they would say? How would someone describe me: a white, blonde, young woman. See, that wasn’t too hard to describe myself with the acknowledgement of my race. Now if I can use race to describe myself, then why is it so hard to acknowledge another person’s race when describing them? I ask this question with the knowledge that for most of my life, race …
My first American history lesson started with the Crash Course series on YouTube in the summer of 2017, about two months before I came to the States. My “teacher” was a white woman from Texas whose name I failed to remember, who seemed nice and honestly was the spitting image of white Americans in media products I had consumed. She taught me everything from “checks and balances,” “electoral college,” and the Constitution to using “bathroom” …
When I first read this title I would think: “Yes! people on the internet are racist”. Or it may make you think “yes, I saw news articles that favor implicit racism or white supremacy.” With the access to the internet available for most people in Western society, it is almost obvious that part of the internet shares racist and white supremacist ideologies. But I am questioning if search engines themselves are racist. The algorithms of …
White people don’t deserve to be congratulated for doing the bare minimum. When a white person aims to be anti-racist the first thing they do is expect those of minority groups to hold their hand while they mess up. They are not your parent, your therapist, or your teacher. The checking-in glance to people of color when you want to make sure you said the right thing, the anxiety of not being “politically correct” is …