Miscellaneous thoughts on racism, again
I have said before that my dog in this fight is a small yappy kind. Since I have the white privilege of walking away from discussions of racism whenever I feel like it, my dog can be small. Reading through the white privilege list provided by kita0610 , not to mention hearing stories of discrimination from my best friend (which, incidentally, made me first stunned and then very keen to punch someone - under white privilege, list also the luxury of being shocked by racism), some things occur to me.
Firstly, I need to start examining the racism of my own culture, the culture I was born and bred in and which I internalised. It looks very different from American racism, but the difference should not be allowed to blind me to the fact that it exists, and that it is detrimental to its victims. A good first step, I think, is to put together a list of privileges, as they look in Sweden, and finding a non-privileged person willing to check them for me.
Secondly, the desire for cookies is strong in us. I don't think this is a bad thing in and of itself: to want approval and praise when you do something difficult is natural, after all. But I have been telling men that if they cease discriminating against women they're not getting a cookie, any more than the whites of South Africa deserved a cookie for ceasing to practice apartheid. I will not deny my desire for cookies. I will also not expect non-whites to provide me with said cookies for what is, basically, the generic human duty of not being an asshole. I will try to be kinder to men wanting cookies, but, knowing me, I'll most likely fail.
Finally, I have been wondering about the statement that both sides have been equally nasty about this fight. I may be incorrect here, as I don't live in the US and therefore am not completely attuned to language usage there, and also I have, as mentioned above, the small yappy dog, but I really can't see it. I feel, rather strongly, that one side has been considerably more unpleasant than the other; maybe not always directly abusive or inclined to invective, but patronising, dismissive, and condescending. This is often combined with a desire to control the conversation: to decide what gets talked about, what tone is used, when the conversation is over. This indicates, to me, a feeling of entitlement. I may very well be wrong - feel free to tell me so if I am - but it appears to me that some white people expect, unconsciously, that the discourse is theirs to control. If that control is not yielded, or is taken away, those people feel that those not adhering to the 'rule' about discourse are being rude and unpleasant. It is one of the few explanations for the reaction to what struck me as rather mild language that makes sense to me.
I shall now go to bed and then most likely be away from the computer until Monday; any responses to comments will be delayed for that time.