7) Yes. What of it? It really does happen. Heck, people get killed for being gay here in America...
9) Yes. It's our country now. What part of "sovereign nation" would suggest that extra-nationals ("aliens") can come and go as they please?
10) No, but see #9...
12) No. Good suggestion to check conflicting schedules, but it's no more "racist" to schedule something than it is discriminating against any other group your schedule conflicts with...
14) Not unless they expect me to be educated about their cultures. I only study cultures that interest me.
17) No. I don't try to "save" people. I don't support sexism and homophobia, though.
18) No. I'm not sure how one would have a kid that isn't ethinic... but I'd love to be able to put "N/A" for my own ethnicity, so that's a cool idea :)
21) Yes. ... what of it?
22) No. But I do believe whites are the target of racism in many situations.
(The rest are all "No" or "N/A" with no real commentary)
I'm very confused as to how some of these activities would be considered racist.
Also, why is skin color specified in so many of these questions? Is it not racist if a black person does it? O.o
why is skin color specified in so many of these questions? Is it not racist if a black person does it? There are different opinions on whether people of color can perpetrate racism or not. (Waits for the yelling to die down. Thanks.) Under the opinion that racism is prejudice + power, it is impossible or certainly much harder for people of color to be racist, as there is not the power of white privilege to back it up. That argument aside, this list was constructed by a couple of white people. One thing we wanted to do was work on racism perpetrated by our own ethnic group.
7. Yes, people do get killed for being gay here in America. That's part of the point. Homophobia exists in many societies. What is racist is reinforcing the stereotype that certain non-white cultures are more homophobic than white cultures are by focusing on gay-bashing perpetrated by people of color while ignoring gay-bashing perpetrated by white people.
9 and 10. OK, I was trying to be nice, but I can't do it on this one. Siding with genocidal conquest (e.g. "It's our country now") is racist no matter how you cut it.
14. This was primarily about white people who want to know about cultures different from their own and expect that people of color will drop everything to educate them, rather than, say, going and reading a book by someone who is choosing to spend their time doing that education work. It's also about the attitude that people of color exist to be interesting cultural artifacts for the amusement of white people. Your answer has me thinking also, though, that a basic point of belonging to any dominant culture is having the privilege to choose whether to learn about other cultures or not (conversely, belonging to a marginalized culture generally means having to learn about the dominant culture just to survive). Interesting, huh?
17. OK, cool. I don't support sexism or homophobia either. This phenomenon of white people trying to save women and queers of color is super common, though. Remember when Bush started bombing Afghanistan and claiming he was doing it to liberate Afghan women? The U.S. government has consistently been ignoring organized Afghan women working for their own liberation ever since it put the Taliban in power. But it was easy to sell the idea of helpless damsels-in-distress of color to mainstream U.S.ers, including a lot of white leftists because of the stereotype that nonwhite cultures are under-evolved, misogynist, homophobic, etc.
18. "Ethnic" is in quotes for a reason. As you say, everyone has an ethnicity. Notice how there are "ethnic foods" aisles in grocery stores, "ethnic" restaurants, etc.? Nonwhite cultures are labeled "ethnic" in the sense of "exotic" - titillatingly different, abnormal, and easily objectified. In the same vein, some parents choose to raise children of color in a sort of "spicing up" the family kind of spirit.
I'm not entirely sure what the rest of your comment on this one means. I'm guessing that it's that children of color raised by white parents have the ethnicity N/A? Way to appropriate an experience you seem to know nothing about.
21. Because religious and cultural icons do not, in most cases, exist to make your house look cool. Sometimes cultural appropriation is slippery to spot - I mean, the idea is not to never buy art made by people of color, and OK, "cultural icon" could be a pretty broad term, possibly encompassing things that are expressly supposed to be used for interior decorating. But imagine that something is sacred to you, and someone who has a big chunk of socio-economic privilege that you don't have because their cultural group has pillaged yours takes that sacred thing and hangs it on their wall because "it looks cool." Does that help?
22. Back to the racism = prejudice + power idea - I don't think that this means a person of color can't be racist, but it does pretty much knock out the chance of white people being the targets of racism. Racism at its core gives white people power. I think that what's usually described as "reverse racism" is either (a) incidental hostility, which hurts, sure, but is not the same as systematic oppression or (b) a sudden, temporary loss of some white privilege. I don't think either is something to whine about.
9) Yes. It's our country now. What part of "sovereign nation" would suggest that extra-nationals ("aliens") can come and go as they please?
10) No, but see #9...
12) No. Good suggestion to check conflicting schedules, but it's no more "racist" to schedule something than it is discriminating against any other group your schedule conflicts with...
14) Not unless they expect me to be educated about their cultures. I only study cultures that interest me.
17) No. I don't try to "save" people. I don't support sexism and homophobia, though.
18) No. I'm not sure how one would have a kid that isn't ethinic... but I'd love to be able to put "N/A" for my own ethnicity, so that's a cool idea :)
21) Yes. ... what of it?
22) No. But I do believe whites are the target of racism in many situations.
(The rest are all "No" or "N/A" with no real commentary)
I'm very confused as to how some of these activities would be considered racist.
Also, why is skin color specified in so many of these questions? Is it not racist if a black person does it? O.o
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There are different opinions on whether people of color can perpetrate racism or not. (Waits for the yelling to die down. Thanks.) Under the opinion that racism is prejudice + power, it is impossible or certainly much harder for people of color to be racist, as there is not the power of white privilege to back it up. That argument aside, this list was constructed by a couple of white people. One thing we wanted to do was work on racism perpetrated by our own ethnic group.
7. Yes, people do get killed for being gay here in America. That's part of the point. Homophobia exists in many societies. What is racist is reinforcing the stereotype that certain non-white cultures are more homophobic than white cultures are by focusing on gay-bashing perpetrated by people of color while ignoring gay-bashing perpetrated by white people.
9 and 10. OK, I was trying to be nice, but I can't do it on this one. Siding with genocidal conquest (e.g. "It's our country now") is racist no matter how you cut it.
14. This was primarily about white people who want to know about cultures different from their own and expect that people of color will drop everything to educate them, rather than, say, going and reading a book by someone who is choosing to spend their time doing that education work. It's also about the attitude that people of color exist to be interesting cultural artifacts for the amusement of white people.
Your answer has me thinking also, though, that a basic point of belonging to any dominant culture is having the privilege to choose whether to learn about other cultures or not (conversely, belonging to a marginalized culture generally means having to learn about the dominant culture just to survive). Interesting, huh?
17. OK, cool. I don't support sexism or homophobia either. This phenomenon of white people trying to save women and queers of color is super common, though. Remember when Bush started bombing Afghanistan and claiming he was doing it to liberate Afghan women? The U.S. government has consistently been ignoring organized Afghan women working for their own liberation ever since it put the Taliban in power. But it was easy to sell the idea of helpless damsels-in-distress of color to mainstream U.S.ers, including a lot of white leftists because of the stereotype that nonwhite cultures are under-evolved, misogynist, homophobic, etc.
18. "Ethnic" is in quotes for a reason. As you say, everyone has an ethnicity. Notice how there are "ethnic foods" aisles in grocery stores, "ethnic" restaurants, etc.? Nonwhite cultures are labeled "ethnic" in the sense of "exotic" - titillatingly different, abnormal, and easily objectified. In the same vein, some parents choose to raise children of color in a sort of "spicing up" the family kind of spirit.
I'm not entirely sure what the rest of your comment on this one means. I'm guessing that it's that children of color raised by white parents have the ethnicity N/A? Way to appropriate an experience you seem to know nothing about.
21. Because religious and cultural icons do not, in most cases, exist to make your house look cool. Sometimes cultural appropriation is slippery to spot - I mean, the idea is not to never buy art made by people of color, and OK, "cultural icon" could be a pretty broad term, possibly encompassing things that are expressly supposed to be used for interior decorating. But imagine that something is sacred to you, and someone who has a big chunk of socio-economic privilege that you don't have because their cultural group has pillaged yours takes that sacred thing and hangs it on their wall because "it looks cool." Does that help?
22. Back to the racism = prejudice + power idea - I don't think that this means a person of color can't be racist, but it does pretty much knock out the chance of white people being the targets of racism. Racism at its core gives white people power. I think that what's usually described as "reverse racism" is either (a) incidental hostility, which hurts, sure, but is not the same as systematic oppression or (b) a sudden, temporary loss of some white privilege. I don't think either is something to whine about.
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