I am not Trayvon Martin and I never will be. I will never be Troy Davis. I will never be Shaima Alawadi. I will never be anyone who doesn’t benefit from the system because the system was made by and for people like me: white people.
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TRIGGER WARNING: PICTURES CONTAIN GRAPHIC DESCRIPTIONS OF VIOLENCE
Some racist shit head posted this on facebook yesterday so I decided to break down why exactly it was racist and horrible.
Something I forgot to add: how come when a white person murders a black person it’s an “isolated incident”, but when a black person murders a white person it’s suddenly indicative of a “hate crime” or “racism against white people”?
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The Wage Gap and White Privilege
I’m very tired of hearing that women only make 77 cents on the male’s dollar. It’s not a correct statistic. It should read: White women only make 77 cents on the white man’s dollar.
That’s the real statistic.
Not all women are white. WOMEN don’t make 77 cents on the dollar, WHITE WOMEN do.
It’s important to remember.
Because every time we repeat that 77 number with no mention of race, we are erasing all women who are not white.
Black women make 69 cents on the white man’s dollar.
Hispanic women make 59 cents on the white man’s dollar.Those women matter. Those women are women.
Women who should be included in feminism, who should be included in our movement.
So don’t erase them.
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Poverty Porn and White Privilage
A while ago I attended a symposium concerning the value of human life at my school. It was rather interesting, each of the people presenting had a different take on just how much a human life is worth. After all of the presentations, there was a separate presentation given in an effort to raise money for the charity “The Water Project”. The Water Project is a group that raises money to build wells in third-world countries, so that those without access to clean water are able to gain access to clean water. The work the organization does seems legitimate, my only concern with it’s work is that it is a Christian organization and often times Christian organizations force their religion onto those who help (I actually did not know they were a Christian charity until a friend informed me, the person presenting the charity neglected to tell us).
It is not the work of the organization I have a problem with. It was the way it was presented to me. A large part of the presentation was showing pictures of people in third-world countries and commenting on how horrible there lives were. This struck a very-privileged chord with me. It sounded a lot like the justification that was used to colonize different parts of the world. The person presenting the charity seemed to say “look how awful the lives of these people are, you have a duty as an American to make their life better”. I am a firm believer that we should help those less fortunate, and that it is our duty to be citizens of the world and not just the United States, but I couldn’t bring myself to agree with the presenter on stage.
I remembered what I had read on tumblr and other places about “poverty porn”. “Poverty porn” was described for me as when the life of those in poverty is purposely shown in the worst light possible. This is often used in order to solicit help for those less fortunate, but it often ends up dehumanizing those it is trying to help.
As I looked at picture after picture of people who were described as “poor” and “dirty” and “helpless”, I couldn’t help but be turned off by the charity. I wanted to donate, because I thought the work they did was legitimate, but I couldn’t justify giving my money to something that had such a vile sales pitch.
There is a very thin line between helping people and exploiting them. If we wish to help people in third-world countries, we must evaluate how we are treating them in the first place. Are we treating them as sub-human helpless creatures? Or are we treating them with respect and dignity, with knowledge of their actual wants, needs and desires? I would have no problem donating to a charity that showed me pictures of the good they did or testimonials from people they’ve helped. I just can’t help but feel that soliciting money using pictures of those in poverty in the worst possible light is immoral. I do not have a duty to help those who are less fortunate because they are less fortunate, I have a duty as a human being to help other humans because they are human.
Bringing this back because it is relevant to my discussions with my BFF today. I need to write a post on TOMS…
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There is a Fatal Flaw in Racism Education in the United States
It wasn’t until I learned about and became aware of my white privilege that I realized that I held racist beliefs and did racist things.
Before I became involved with feminism and learned about white privilege and the true nature and face of racism in the United States, I thought racism could only be one thing; the KKK.
Public school taught me that racism was bad, but it also taught me that racism was something only evil people could partake in. We were shown pictures from the Civil Rights Era of people being sprayed with fire houses and mauled by dogs, and told that that was what racism looked like. They weren’t lying to us, all of the horrible things that happened to African Americans in the 1960s were a result of racism, but by only showing us pictures in black and white from the 60s it solidified in my mind that racism was only evil, only violence. I knew that I was not violent, I was not evil, and therefore, I thought I was not racist.
We need to start showing kids the true nature of racism in the United States. We need to let them know that not just “evil people” are racist; that each and every one of us probably holds racist thoughts and that is not okay.
I remember times in early high school (times I look back on with shame) where friends and I would mock the black kids at my school for being “ghetto”. That was racism. That was pure unadulterated racism. However, I (and my friends) didn’t see it like that because we had always been taught that racism is only racism if it’s violent or obvious (obvious to white people, that is).
I don’t know what we would have to do to change the current system. I do believe that the Civil Rights Era is something that needs to be taught, and kids need to understand the horrible things that went on, but we also need to talk about the present day. We’re never going to get rid of white privilege if we don’t start educating our youth about it.
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Remember the Titans
- Sam's Roommate: Wait...when does this movie take place?
- Sam: 1971
- Sam's Roommate: Psh, well that's inaccurate.
- Sam: What?
- Sam's Roommate: Racism was over by 1971.
- Sam: What the hell are you talking about?
- Sam's Roommate: Well, what year did Dr. King die?
- Sam: I think it was 1968...
- Sam's Roommate: Yeah, racism was over when that happened.
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“I can’t pretend I don’t have some rotting branches; we can’t pretend our privileges don’t exist just because we do not like them. To relinquish the power they hold, we have to constantly expose them for what they are,” Grandma Willow concluded, and gave John a pat on the back with one of her drooping branches.
Definitely a wise one, that Grandma Willow.
THERE ARE SO MANY PEOPLE WHO NEED TO UNDERSTAND THIS
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Poverty Porn and White Privilage
A while ago I attended a symposium concerning the value of human life at my school. It was rather interesting, each of the people presenting had a different take on just how much a human life is worth. After all of the presentations, there was a separate presentation given in an effort to raise money for the charity “The Water Project”. The Water Project is a group that raises money to build wells in third-world countries, so that those without access to clean water are able to gain access to clean water. The work the organization does seems legitimate, my only concern with it’s work is that it is a Christian organization and often times Christian organizations force their religion onto those who help (I actually did not know they were a Christian charity until a friend informed me, the person presenting the charity neglected to tell us).
It is not the work of the organization I have a problem with. It was the way it was presented to me. A large part of the presentation was showing pictures of people in third-world countries and commenting on how horrible there lives were. This struck a very-privileged chord with me. It sounded a lot like the justification that was used to colonize different parts of the world. The person presenting the charity seemed to say “look how awful the lives of these people are, you have a duty as an American to make their life better”. I am a firm believer that we should help those less fortunate, and that it is our duty to be citizens of the world and not just the United States, but I couldn’t bring myself to agree with the presenter on stage.
I remembered what I had read on tumblr and other places about “poverty porn”. “Poverty porn” was described for me as when the life of those in poverty is purposely shown in the worst light possible. This is often used in order to solicit help for those less fortunate, but it often ends up dehumanizing those it is trying to help.
As I looked at picture after picture of people who were described as “poor” and “dirty” and “helpless”, I couldn’t help but be turned off by the charity. I wanted to donate, because I thought the work they did was legitimate, but I couldn’t justify giving my money to something that had such a vile sales pitch.
There is a very thin line between helping people and exploiting them. If we wish to help people in third-world countries, we must evaluate how we are treating them in the first place. Are we treating them as sub-human helpless creatures? Or are we treating them with respect and dignity, with knowledge of their actual wants, needs and desires? I would have no problem donating to a charity that showed me pictures of the good they did or testimonials from people they’ve helped. I just can’t help but feel that soliciting money using pictures of those in poverty in the worst possible light is immoral. I do not have a duty to help those who are less fortunate because they are less fortunate, I have a duty as a human being to help other humans because they are human.
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"White people like going back in time, which is always a problem for me. I can only go back so far. Any farther and my black ass is in chains."
Paul Mooney
I dont like Paul Mooney, but this quote is so true. I get annoyed when people get all nostalgic for times that they’ve never lived in, because if you go past 30 years women and blacks had no rights.Ahhh white privilege.
