International Blog Against Racism Week
I was talking with friends last week, and the topic of conversation turned to race and racism. As I recalled some of the things I've heard from truly ignorant people, I noticed I was really angry. I usually cover such things with a thick, creamy dollop of better-to-laugh-than-cry humor, but this time it was a bit more difficult.
Some of this comes from having taught race and ethnicity for several semesters, and wondering if anyone noticed the irony of having one of the few grad students of color teaching it (I forgot it was my job to educate white folks about all of this, my bad). And some of it comes from the insecurity I sometimes feel as a light-skinned Native American with a multiracial background. And some of it comes from observing privilege in action, pretty much all the time.
It can all wear on a person.
WEB DuBois talks about the state of double consciousness, by which he meant black folks' awareness not only of their own identity but also their awareness of the dominant white cultural viewpoint. And that gets balanced on a knife-edge when you are multiracial - "pick one box for your racial identity" (as it is printed on too many forms).
And when you are looking towards the future, it gets even more tiring to see that white dominant cultural perspective being taken-for-granted as the perspective of the future. I've wondered for some time about what Native American science fiction would look like, and frankly I'm unsure. Not because there isn't any out there (I'm sure there is), but because it's almost an oxymoron - "science fiction" began as a dominant culture project, which looks dubious when viewed through an Indian lens. It seems to me that Native skiffy would have to be subversive on several levels, simply to exist.
I certainly hope so.
Some of this comes from having taught race and ethnicity for several semesters, and wondering if anyone noticed the irony of having one of the few grad students of color teaching it (I forgot it was my job to educate white folks about all of this, my bad). And some of it comes from the insecurity I sometimes feel as a light-skinned Native American with a multiracial background. And some of it comes from observing privilege in action, pretty much all the time.
It can all wear on a person.
WEB DuBois talks about the state of double consciousness, by which he meant black folks' awareness not only of their own identity but also their awareness of the dominant white cultural viewpoint. And that gets balanced on a knife-edge when you are multiracial - "pick one box for your racial identity" (as it is printed on too many forms).
And when you are looking towards the future, it gets even more tiring to see that white dominant cultural perspective being taken-for-granted as the perspective of the future. I've wondered for some time about what Native American science fiction would look like, and frankly I'm unsure. Not because there isn't any out there (I'm sure there is), but because it's almost an oxymoron - "science fiction" began as a dominant culture project, which looks dubious when viewed through an Indian lens. It seems to me that Native skiffy would have to be subversive on several levels, simply to exist.
I certainly hope so.