two related pop-culture links for you...

[liminalia]

When Will White People Stop Making Movies Like Avatar?

and

And We Shall Call This Moff's LawThe law in question being summed up roughly as, "Whenever someone critiques the racial tropes in a work of entertainment online, the probability that a white commenter will say something like 'Why can’t you just watch the movie for what it is??? Why can’t

Comments

[onelittlesleep]

"It's just fantasy/a movie/scifi!"

or

"Do you have to see race in everything?!"

and strangely enough, I see this one alot on race commentary lately:

"You might not realize it, but at one time, the IRISH were some of the most oppressed people in the world!"

[liminalia]

Oh yeah, I've seen that too many times to count. 99.9% of the time from people who were born long after Kennedy was elected, let alone when NINA signs were prevalent. What does that even mean? "We were discriminated against 3 generations ago, so we totes can't be racist"?

[onelittlesleep]

It means they have NO REAL AWARENESS of the effects of racism today. They assume racism is about SLAVERY and reparations and has been LONG TAKEN CARE OF.

So they bring up Irish history like "WE GOT OVER IT. WHY CAN'T YOU?"

[liminalia]

Yep, I think you got it in one.

[teaberryblue]

Hey, guys, I am half-Jewish. The Nazis are after me ALL THE TIME. You just don't know.

[dichroic]

More seriously, I am Jewish. I grew up being taught way too much about the Holocaust (attending Hebrew school in the 1970s had that effect).

And I think it is relevant to current racism issues, in that if you (for values of "you" including a larger group you belong to) have been through it, you have a special responsibilty to help other victims of discrimination.

Which is exactly the response I'd use to someone bringing up the story of the Irish: "Oh, so you've heard lots of stories about how your forebears suffered under prejudice - that must really make you want to fight against it now."

[teaberryblue]

I went to an all-Jewish school and had very similar experiences. And yes, there have been times that I've been made to feel uncomfortable based on my ethnicity, but it also makes it very easy to forget that 99% of the time, I am still able to enjoy white privilege. I think a lot of the problem is that white people descended from ethnicities that are/have been traditionally marginalized see that one (or two, or even five) percent of the time when they are being marginalized and assume that is the same as what people of color go through. I do have Irish friends who have had people make drunk jokes at them or assume they're temperamental, and my brother has been beaten up for being Jewish, but the few instances in which we're still treated differently are only a tiny sliver of what people of color experience