I forgot that all PoC must be really obviously 'of colour'. How dare some of us be light enough that, on first glance, your rude assumption is that we must be the 'token white' in a group of PoC, as opposed to someone who actually IS a PoC. /pissed off rant of a PoC (White/Black/Asian) who is also of light colouring.
Yeah, I have issues with this too because I'm half Asian, and not obviously...anything, I think? I hesitate to call myself a PoC because, I don't know, it's so rarely been an issue, and when I encountered RaceFail09 I initially held the opinions that all the PoC I read seemed to ascribe to white people, so I supposed I ought to count as one of them. Fortunately I learned to get past those opinions, but learning was always framed as something for white people to do, whereas PoC were supposed to naturally understand. I know now about internalized racism, but somehow I always felt like, when I was (rightly) accused of exhibiting racism far more often than I felt other things to be racist, it would be cheating or lying or something to say I wasn't white.
Plus I've just always had the feeling that I don't immediately strike people as not white, although more recently I've started suspecting I had that wrong all along. I have gotten the "what are you" and "where are you from no where are you originally from" questions, after all. I suppose it's simply a matter of acknowledging my relative privilege stemming from my ambiguous appearance and "model minority" status, but it still feels confusing...
"where are you from no where are you originally from"
I hate that question SO much. Apparently I can't be from Connecticut even though I was fucking born here and STILL live here, no, since I am obviously not white I CAN'T be from Connecticut or the US T ALL, I have to be from elsewhere.
Dude, I'm black and I used to get that shit all the time, just because I was a little too pale a shade of Black for people to be able to put me in a box.
I hated the Where Are You From Game.
Random person: So...where are you from? me: Atlanta/Georgia (depending on where convo was takign place* Random person: *confused* Uh...no, no, I mean, where are you from? me: ...Georgia. Random person: No, no, no. Where are you from? me: HERE. Random person: ...where were you born? me: ...Washington, DC. I'm AMERICAN. Random person: *sigh* Where are your parents from? me: VIRGINIA.
And on and on until I finally explain that I am just a light-skinned black person. As are both of my parents. asdgfhjkl;
That is one thing I love about living abroad--"America" is finally the "right" answer to that question.
Oh, I'm sorry. Didn't mean to make it seem scary, it's just eye-brow raising.
The paper bag test is simply are you lighter or darker than a paper bag and that some cultures decide how 'ethnic' you are based on that color level.
The "brown paper bag test" was a ritual once practiced by certain African-American and Creole fraternities and sororities who discriminated against people who were "too dark." That is, these groups would not let anyone into the sorority or fraternity whose skin tone was darker than a paper lunch bag, in order to maintain a perception of standards. Spike Lee's film School Daze satirized this practice at historically black colleges and universities.
Along with the "Paper Bag Test," guidelines for acceptance among the lighter ranks included the "comb test", which tested the coarseness of one's hair, and the "flashlight test," which tested a person's profile, to make sure their features measured up, or were close enough to those of the Caucasian race. From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colour_discrimination
Oh man, you speak more Jew than I. Plz hold while I check the calendar to see which day of Hanukkah this is because I have no idea.
I just checked, I think?? it's the 7th night. Anyway... I do know that John Lennon's death date is 12/8/80 and I'm part Russian. All Lenin all the time. Tit for tat, your bad joke deserves mine :o
/pissed off rant of a PoC (White/Black/Asian) who is also of light colouring.
Yeah, I have issues with this too because I'm half Asian, and not obviously...anything, I think? I hesitate to call myself a PoC because, I don't know, it's so rarely been an issue, and when I encountered RaceFail09 I initially held the opinions that all the PoC I read seemed to ascribe to white people, so I supposed I ought to count as one of them. Fortunately I learned to get past those opinions, but learning was always framed as something for white people to do, whereas PoC were supposed to naturally understand. I know now about internalized racism, but somehow I always felt like, when I was (rightly) accused of exhibiting racism far more often than I felt other things to be racist, it would be cheating or lying or something to say I wasn't white.
Plus I've just always had the feeling that I don't immediately strike people as not white, although more recently I've started suspecting I had that wrong all along. I have gotten the "what are you" and "where are you from no where are you originally from" questions, after all. I suppose it's simply a matter of acknowledging my relative privilege stemming from my ambiguous appearance and "model minority" status, but it still feels confusing...
/self-centered ramble
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I hate that question SO much. Apparently I can't be from Connecticut even though I was fucking born here and STILL live here, no, since I am obviously not white I CAN'T be from Connecticut or the US T ALL, I have to be from elsewhere.
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I hated the Where Are You From Game.
Random person: So...where are you from?
me: Atlanta/Georgia (depending on where convo was takign place*
Random person: *confused* Uh...no, no, I mean, where are you from?
me: ...Georgia.
Random person: No, no, no. Where are you from?
me: HERE.
Random person: ...where were you born?
me: ...Washington, DC. I'm AMERICAN.
Random person: *sigh* Where are your parents from?
me: VIRGINIA.
And on and on until I finally explain that I am just a light-skinned black person. As are both of my parents. asdgfhjkl;
That is one thing I love about living abroad--"America" is finally the "right" answer to that question.
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The paper bag test is simply are you lighter or darker than a paper bag and that some cultures decide how 'ethnic' you are based on that color level.
The "brown paper bag test" was a ritual once practiced by certain African-American and Creole fraternities and sororities who discriminated against people who were "too dark." That is, these groups would not let anyone into the sorority or fraternity whose skin tone was darker than a paper lunch bag, in order to maintain a perception of standards. Spike Lee's film School Daze satirized this practice at historically black colleges and universities.
Along with the "Paper Bag Test," guidelines for acceptance among the lighter ranks included the "comb test", which tested the coarseness of one's hair, and the "flashlight test," which tested a person's profile, to make sure their features measured up, or were close enough to those of the Caucasian race.
From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colour_discrimination
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I'm a white girl that wouldn't come anywhere close to passing the comb test, what happens then??!!
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I just checked, I think?? it's the 7th night. Anyway... I do know that John Lennon's death date is 12/8/80 and I'm part Russian. All Lenin all the time. Tit for tat, your bad joke deserves mine :o
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