[Alan] Freeman blamed the tendency of judges to focus on the perspective of the perpetrator of racial discrimination—what did he intend, what did he do—rather than on the perspective of the victim—in what ways do legal arrangements impede his freedom.
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[Alan] Freeman blamed the tendency of judges to focus on the perspective of the perpetrator of racial discrimination—what did he intend, what did he do—rather than on the perspective of the victim—in what ways do legal arrangements impede his freedom. For Freeman, the result was to normalize the “conditions” of racial inequality and reinforce the notion that most Americans were innocent of participating in racial injustice—the problem lay with a small group of prejudiced individuals acting with discriminatory intent.
-- Crenshaw et al, 1995Oh, we think it's not racism if it's not done "with intent"? And so we concern ourselves almost entirely with examining the character of the person perpetrating the racism, rather than centering the people who were harmed by it and asking ourselves what reparation they are due?
Now what recent event does that bring to mind?
Fedi is fucking rotten for this. We're full of people with passionate anti-racist intent, who have never deconstructed this perpetrator-centred view of racism.
So yeah, let's talk about that incident, and our response to it. A white person with Tourette's says the N-word to two black people, in the presence of many more. A black person here on Fedi highlights the damage that does.
Immediately, what happens? We're focused on whether the perpetrator "could help it" or not, or whether they're "secretly a racist". It all becomes about him, his motivation, his moral purity. Loads of really fucking ableist shit is said, there's pushback, and suddenly we're trundling towards a broken narrative of "black people versus disabled people", harming both groups, and the intersection in particular.
Meanwhile black voices are not being listened to. The conversation that we should be having, centering what it is like as a black person to have the N-word shouted at you, the harm it does, how we can repair that damage and prevent a reoccurrence... none of that is being talked about.
And people are not taking the hint that they, too, could cause racist harm. They know they don't have racist intent, and they proudly affirm their commitment to the anti-racist cause as they, uh, go after a person with Tourette's?
Ugh.
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Fedi is fucking rotten for this. We're full of people with passionate anti-racist intent, who have never deconstructed this perpetrator-centred view of racism.
So yeah, let's talk about that incident, and our response to it. A white person with Tourette's says the N-word to two black people, in the presence of many more. A black person here on Fedi highlights the damage that does.
Immediately, what happens? We're focused on whether the perpetrator "could help it" or not, or whether they're "secretly a racist". It all becomes about him, his motivation, his moral purity. Loads of really fucking ableist shit is said, there's pushback, and suddenly we're trundling towards a broken narrative of "black people versus disabled people", harming both groups, and the intersection in particular.
Meanwhile black voices are not being listened to. The conversation that we should be having, centering what it is like as a black person to have the N-word shouted at you, the harm it does, how we can repair that damage and prevent a reoccurrence... none of that is being talked about.
And people are not taking the hint that they, too, could cause racist harm. They know they don't have racist intent, and they proudly affirm their commitment to the anti-racist cause as they, uh, go after a person with Tourette's?
Ugh.
@Tattie It has to do with punitive justice as well. We must excuse perpetrators of non intentional harm because else we have to punish everyone all the time. But that's a perversion of justice and humanity, we are all flawed and all do harm, and we must address that harm to grow as a community.
This is part of why abolitionism is such an important part of being anti racist (the other obviously being the racist bias enforcement and "justice" has).
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Fedi is fucking rotten for this. We're full of people with passionate anti-racist intent, who have never deconstructed this perpetrator-centred view of racism.
So yeah, let's talk about that incident, and our response to it. A white person with Tourette's says the N-word to two black people, in the presence of many more. A black person here on Fedi highlights the damage that does.
Immediately, what happens? We're focused on whether the perpetrator "could help it" or not, or whether they're "secretly a racist". It all becomes about him, his motivation, his moral purity. Loads of really fucking ableist shit is said, there's pushback, and suddenly we're trundling towards a broken narrative of "black people versus disabled people", harming both groups, and the intersection in particular.
Meanwhile black voices are not being listened to. The conversation that we should be having, centering what it is like as a black person to have the N-word shouted at you, the harm it does, how we can repair that damage and prevent a reoccurrence... none of that is being talked about.
And people are not taking the hint that they, too, could cause racist harm. They know they don't have racist intent, and they proudly affirm their commitment to the anti-racist cause as they, uh, go after a person with Tourette's?
Ugh.
I'm not going to belabour the point about how this is a recurring pattern here.
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@Tattie It has to do with punitive justice as well. We must excuse perpetrators of non intentional harm because else we have to punish everyone all the time. But that's a perversion of justice and humanity, we are all flawed and all do harm, and we must address that harm to grow as a community.
This is part of why abolitionism is such an important part of being anti racist (the other obviously being the racist bias enforcement and "justice" has).
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[Alan] Freeman blamed the tendency of judges to focus on the perspective of the perpetrator of racial discrimination—what did he intend, what did he do—rather than on the perspective of the victim—in what ways do legal arrangements impede his freedom. For Freeman, the result was to normalize the “conditions” of racial inequality and reinforce the notion that most Americans were innocent of participating in racial injustice—the problem lay with a small group of prejudiced individuals acting with discriminatory intent.
-- Crenshaw et al, 1995Oh, we think it's not racism if it's not done "with intent"? And so we concern ourselves almost entirely with examining the character of the person perpetrating the racism, rather than centering the people who were harmed by it and asking ourselves what reparation they are due?
Now what recent event does that bring to mind?
@Tattie
But wearing a white pointed hat and cloak is just a fashion statement! -
@Tattie
But wearing a white pointed hat and cloak is just a fashion statement!@Faith so, when I was a kid (like about 6 years old), my mum made me a "ghost" costume out of a white sheet. It included a cone-shaped hat with holes cut for eyes.
So a genuine question for you: do you feel I perpetuated racist harms by wearing it? If so, how? If not, why not?
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@Faith so, when I was a kid (like about 6 years old), my mum made me a "ghost" costume out of a white sheet. It included a cone-shaped hat with holes cut for eyes.
So a genuine question for you: do you feel I perpetuated racist harms by wearing it? If so, how? If not, why not?
@Tattie
Sfaict you are in Edinburgh and I'm in England, neither of which had the KKK doing their thing. I feel there's a difference in how actions are received which is dependent on location. What is probably acceptable here isn't necessarily OK everywhere else. But one should still be mindful of misunderstandings. -
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@Tattie
Sfaict you are in Edinburgh and I'm in England, neither of which had the KKK doing their thing. I feel there's a difference in how actions are received which is dependent on location. What is probably acceptable here isn't necessarily OK everywhere else. But one should still be mindful of misunderstandings.@Faith my answer would be that yes, I did perpetuate a harm with that costume. Any black person who saw it would probably have been made uncomfortable, and the probable fact that none of the white people around them would have acknowledged it would increase a feeling of isolation.
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@Faith my answer would be that yes, I did perpetuate a harm with that costume. Any black person who saw it would probably have been made uncomfortable, and the probable fact that none of the white people around them would have acknowledged it would increase a feeling of isolation.
@Tattie
I'm sorry. I knew nothing of the KKK or similar until I was maybe late 20s or so, certainly not when young (I'm now late 60s and led a rather sheltered life) so, yes, it would have just passed me by. I frequently miss the subtext in books and films too, only taking things at face value. This is obviously a "me" problem that I still need to work on. -
@Tattie
I'm sorry. I knew nothing of the KKK or similar until I was maybe late 20s or so, certainly not when young (I'm now late 60s and led a rather sheltered life) so, yes, it would have just passed me by. I frequently miss the subtext in books and films too, only taking things at face value. This is obviously a "me" problem that I still need to work on.@Faith it's difficult, isn't it? Looking back and realising how naïve we were for how long. Realising that we may have hurt people in our ignorance. Realising we probably still have large blind spots about things.
It's tempting to seek to perfectly educate ourselves, so we can never make a mistake and hurt someone. But no matter how hard we try, we probably will, from time to time. Being able to put our own feelings to the side, centre the other person, and say "I'm sorry, how can I make this right?" is truly the most important thing to learn. And goddess knows that isn't easy!
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