Observations...

[silverthorne]

There was a long rambling post here that served no purpose other than me being upset, and by proxy, upsetting whoever read it.

It's erased. So at least I've learned something. Not so sure I still won't upset someone with this, but I'm trying not to here, all right? Just trying to get a wider perspective than I apparently have.

So...okay then.

Will someone please be kind enough to tell me what would be considered appropriate ways to help fix this situation? I'm understanding the reasoning about white america needing to be held accountable for the 'crimes of the past' as well as the present, but what I'm not getting a clear idea on, is what, exactly, I can do as a person to help rectify it. Since I can't change my skin color, my racial inheritance, or what the guys who have a lot more money and power than me are doing, what can I do as a person? What are you expecting? My own ideas of treating (and thinking of, despite the examples I used first post) people as people and not skins is apparently not enough.

No, this is not sarcasm, this is a person who's been up all night reading on this and getting a lot of the 'it's our/white people's fault and we/white people need to fix it' part, but not finding a whole lot of practical application for the average person living an everyday life. Except for talking it to death. Which still does nothing to help the situation. So I'm asking for a succinct run down.

What can be done?
What do you do?
What would you want done?

Comments

[chiss.livejournal.com]

Not to kick up a new stink, but seeing beyond color -- colorblindness? -- that's a... pretty exclusively white ideology. White people are the only ones who are able to, because of that privilege... our social standing is really the only one that for all intents and purposes lets us ignore race without any repercussion.

Just saying.

[molotovcoqtiz.livejournal.com]

You're assuming one, that I'm white. I'm not. I'm Navajo, German and Welsh. That said, I have also been nearly hospitalized for being white in the wrong place at the wrong time - Hello SoCal during the Rodney King riots.

I've been attacked for being pagan, for being gay and for my beliefs on race. I do not hold it against those that were ignorant, nor do I think the ignorance is a racial thing. Yes, three black girls beat me nearly into the hospital. Do I hate black people for this? No. I don't even hate the girls that did it. Do I hate Christians because my four year old was nearly assualted because her mommy is satanic? No.

If you keep making it a bloody issue, it will always be an issue. I have never owned slaves, my ancestors were slaves, my ancestors were also part of the Third Reich. I am not part of the Third Reich so I don't feel I need to make reperations for what ancestors I never knew did. I merely have respect for each person for being the person they are, or dislike them for the person they are. I don't see colour as a reason to hate, or apologize. My skin tone happens to be peachy, verging on red because I spent all day outside. I don't feel that is something to apologize for when, on a whole, I am a good person that works to make change to make this a better place.

[chiss.livejournal.com]

Actually, I have no idea what color you are. That "our" was referring to me + white people + Anne, because we're white.

If you keep making it a bloody issue, it will always be an issue.

That's true, but ignoring a large issue that is currently working to undermine and oppress people in the country I live, every day, just because people are socialized not to see it? I'm not a "minority" so speaking for them here is tentative at best, but for a HUGE number of people in this country, they can't just "see past it". That's... yeah, I think that deserves to be made an "issue" of. It's not as simple as just being colorblind and hoping it will go away.

[molotovcoqtiz.livejournal.com]

Neither is making up for actions you did not do. Change the way the country now is run, the way it is handled, but don't apologize for something your ancestors may or may not did.

Yes, those that ignore the past are doomed to repeat but there is a difference between knowledge and wallowing. Making "being white" out to be a bad thing is no better than ostracizing someone else for their race or colour.

I'm not saying ignore it, I'm saying teach knowledge rather than obsessing about the past actions. I can teach my daughter that she is white and therefor will get things better and must fight against, or I can teach her to try her best, work hard, and see people for what is inside of them, colour be damned.

There is a huge world of difference between ignoring it and being an ostrich and obsessing about the wrong issues. Making white people out to be bad is no better than making blacks, or orientals or anyone else out to be bad simply because of their skin colour.

Chances are we all have ancestors that did shitty things to other people. Many of us have family now that does the same thing. We have to be accountable for our own actions. There is a difference between changing the world and taking the weight of it onto your shoulders.

[chiss.livejournal.com]

White privilege, (institutional and otherwise) racial discrimination of all types, is not about what happened "then", in the past -- it's about what is happening now, and will continue to happen until people actually learn that it IS happening and do something to stop it. You can't "change the way it's handled" unless people realize that there is a problem in the first place, which they are apparently loathe to.

"Past actions" have nothing to do with this. They way people act today, does.

What "wrong" issues am I/others obsessing about? I'd say the fact that there are people by and large receiving preferential treatment because of their race is a pretty big issue. And actually, no, comparing the current social standing of any race (which ties into their economic standing, their cultural mores, etc.) to any other race is incorrect and fallacious no matter how you slice it, considering each of them had and continue to have very different, distinct histories and cultures, not to mention timelines. It's not comparable. Apples and oranges.

I'm really curious -- who is making white people out to be "bad"? That seems to be a very common misconception when talks like this crop up. White people aren't a hivemind. We don't all fall in lockstep because we have the same color skin. There is, as you said, a "world of difference" between villainizing a group and presenting a breakdown of how that group is operating on a different level than everyone else in the society in which they operate and live. White privilege is a phenomenon that (unfairly) benefits white people, not a meeting of the minds that we all consciously contribute to in an effort to impede everybody else's progress.

[skywardprodigal.livejournal.com]

Yep.

It happens today. Is happening today. Will happen today. It's stressful. Like, did you hear about that poor kid who was sentenced to 7 years for pushing a hall monitor? She did it on purpose, which she admits. But the judge who sentenced her to 7 years sentenced a white kid with probation for burning down a house. (http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0703120170mar12,1,1921178.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed&ctrack=1&cset=true)

Or about the guy in Harrison County who was beaten to death by a prison guard. That news didn't make the national media.

Or about the time I was stuck in Shreveport at 3 o'clock in the morning, and the Avis attendant refused to issue me a rental car, even though I had a reservation. And that was last June.

[derek-bliss.livejournal.com]

Totally OT, but cna you do me a favor? I made Lee several CD's a few months back, and although she was going to let me know if they showed, she never got back to me...so I'm wondering of she got them, and if they work (because I found out the set I have here only works on certain CD players....)

Would you be willing to ask her or something and let mw know? I would appreciate knowing if I still owe her CD's or not...

[molotovcoqtiz.livejournal.com]

Sure thing. I should talk with her tonight so I will totally get back with you.

[derek-bliss.livejournal.com]

Thank you! She was looking forward to them, and she wasnt home when they got there and the notation at DHL was that they left the package on the porch with no signature.