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Monday, July 21st, 2008
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4:40 pm - LJ comm specifically for white allies against racism
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Good idea or bad idea?
The idea is that it would be a place for white allies to get together and connect and educate each other without subjecting POC to our fumblings and racist bull. That way, whites who are interested in anti-racism could get their most basic shit together before coming to the table with POC.
The fear is that it would be the white ally mutual masturbation society, where privilege and misinformation abound and our own whiteness never gets challenged and we are all very self-congratulatory and not accountable at all.
POC would be more than welcome to join, but also would know to avoid it if they do not want to deal with white allies who are still really clueless.
Thoughts?
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(12 comments | comment on this)
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| Thursday, July 17th, 2008
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1:18 pm - Sean Tevis for State Rep of Kansas
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5:10 am - Feminism fails at intersectionality once again.
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| Sunday, July 13th, 2008
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4:06 am - Resource for white anti-racist teachers
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I intend to teach English after I graduate, so I decided to ask the folks over on ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif) debunkingwhite for some tips and pet peeves about white teachers interacting with students of color and their families. I've tried to summarize some of their responses to my post here, to make it easier for other white anti-racist teachers or other interested parties to access. These are some of the recurring issues that came up in the comments:
1. Colorblind mentality. The idea that all students should be treated alike and will learn alike (and the invisible, insidious assumption that that default POV will be just like the teacher’s own white POV). Blindness to the cultural differences of students and the role of race and racism in the educational system.
2. Disrespect to parents of color. White teachers who dismiss or deflect the concerns of parents and families of color by assuming that they don’t understand or don’t know what they’re talking about. White teachers condescending to parents of color, assuming that they are in a position to educate parents of color but not willing to be educated.
3. Refusal to acknowledge white privilege / defensiveness about white privilege. Ignorance of systemic racism, unwillingness to admit one’s own privilege and racism. Insisting that the playing field is level and that any attempt to say otherwise is “reverse racism”. Lack of understanding of privilege; unwillingness to understand that one form of oppression does not give you automatic insight into others (i.e., that being oppressed as a woman does not mean that you understand the experience of people of color, or vice versa).
4. White savior mentality. Idea that white teachers can “save” students of color from themselves/their background/their culture/their schools. Idea that white teachers deserve a reward for teaching students of color or that they are doing students and families of color a favor by teaching them. Abandoning or blaming students when things don’t go their way or they don’t get the recognition they deserve. Being a “nice white lady.”
5. Lack of trust between white teachers and students of color. White teachers wanting to be trusted because they have good intentions but being unwilling to earn that trust. White teachers failing to protect students of color from racism, both personal and societal, and subjecting them to the teacher’s own racism.
6. Failure to listen to students of color. Not understanding the ways in which students of color try to articulate their feelings about racism, unfairness, etc. Dismissing the concerns of students of color or reframing their experiences in a white POV instead of accepting their experiences as valid. Assuming that their white version of “common sense” is the only valid one. Cultural disconnect between white teachers and students of color, and the refusal of white educators to acknowledge it.
Thank you to all who helped me out over on debunkingwhite; they deserve all the credit for this one. I take full responsibility for anything I may have screwed up or misrepresented, and will do my best to correct whatever is brought to my attention.
Please feel free to comment and add your thoughts!
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(comment on this)
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3:39 am - Teachers of color / white anti-racist educators blogging?
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Anyone know of any blogs by teachers of colors or white teachers talking about anti-racism? Book and article recommendations are also very welcome.
Thanks!
ETA: For your edification, here are links that were recently suggested to me. I'll add more as they come in.
* Becoming an Ally by Anne Bishop
* Teaching Outside One's Race by Bree Picower
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(comment on this)
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| Friday, July 11th, 2008
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4:56 pm - Black Neighborhood Denied Water For Decades
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| Monday, June 30th, 2008
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6:16 pm - Murder of LaVena Johnson
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From Jezebel
LaVena Johnson: Murdered By Her Colleagues, Ignored By The Army
This is Private First Class LaVena Johnson of Missouri. An honors student who nonetheless didn't quite know what she wanted to do with her life, she enlisted in the Army right out of high school in 2003 and was sent to Iraq, where she died. When the Army returned her mutilated body to her grieving parents as a suicide, her dad, Dr. John Johnson said to himself and the Army coroner, "Somebody murdered my daughter and you picked the wrong person to fuck with." Fucking right.
When LaVena's father finally brought himself to look at his daughter's corpse in 2005, sent home from Iraq with a report that she'd committed suicide by shooting herself in the left side of her head with an M-16 — which, by the way, is not a handgun but a relatively long rifle, he thought there was something wrong.
Private LaVena Johnson's nose was broken, teeth were loose, one eye was concave and there were abrasions over her body. The supposed M-16 hole to the head was far too small for the revolver-sized exit wound, and was on the wrong side of her skull for a right-handed woman to have pulled the trigger. Her genital area showed evidence of acid, perhaps used to destroy DNA evidence. She had white military gloves glued to her burned hands.
Since then, the Army has continued to insist that the LaVena committed suicide by pointing her rifle with her non-dominant hand at the side of her head and set herself on fire, all after she beat herself up and poured acid on her genitals (since their was no apparent investigation into whatever happened there). Oh, and there was a trail of blood leading away from the tent where her body was found.
Her father has been trying for nearly 3 years to get someone — including Congress — to investigate the death of his daughter, which he feels was a cover-up or conspiracy in the manner of Pat Tillman. Of course, he's trying to get people to pay attention to his African-American daughter's "suicide" and not the friendly-fire death of a white male NFL player, which is probably part of the problem. Lara Battles, spokesperson for the House Armed Services Committee, told KMOV "At this time the House Armed Services Committee is looking into Private Johnson's case, but no decisions have been made for a formal investigation."
Wondering who to contact to get that formal investigation started? The website dedicated to getting LaVena's case investigated has some ideas.
Some links:
http://www.lavenajohnson.com/
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10518131&pnum=0
http://www.salon.com/mwt/broadsheet/2008/06/27/lavena_johnson/index.html?source=refresh
Found through ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) sadie_sabot
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(comment on this)
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| Tuesday, June 3rd, 2008
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11:58 pm - Obama won it!
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Thanks be to whatever omnipotent being(s) you may or may not believe in, Obama got the nomination! Not that I was in doubt, but it's still incredible to see it happen.
And gloat. Oh yes, there will be much gloating to the father.
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(1 comment | comment on this)
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| Thursday, May 15th, 2008
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3:59 pm - FUCKING YES!
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| Wednesday, May 14th, 2008
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2:26 pm - Relay for Life
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On June 6th I'll be participating in the Austin Relay for Life to support the American Cancer Society. I am close to several survivors, including my uncle and godmother, so any donations you could make would be personally significant to me and very much appreciated.
Please go here to view my page and donate.
Thank you so much!
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(comment on this)
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12:23 pm - Local Austin Philanthropy
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| Tuesday, May 6th, 2008
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2:08 pm - Seeking Books for Radical Women of Color Lending Library
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INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence New Orleans Chapter and the
New Orleans Women’s Health & Justice Initiative Seeks Books
by Women of Color authors for a Radical Women of Color Lending Library Project
The New Orleans Women of Color Resource & Organizing Center (a joint project of the WHJI and INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence – New Orleans) will serve as a resource and organizing hub to nurture grassroots organizing and activism to end violence against women of color, linking struggles against the violence of poverty, incarceration, environmental racism, housing discrimination, economic exploitation, and medical experimentation and forced sterilization. The Center will provide a host of movement building and leadership development programs, activities, and resources to end violence against women of color; the Center will also house a radical women of color lending library, a cluster of computers for community use, meeting space, and a comfortable environment for women and girls to hangout.
We are currently in the process of establishing a radical women of color lending library. We are seeking donations of books by women of color authors across genres, topics, interests, and subjects including but not limited to:
( Read more... )
All books are welcome—fiction, non-fiction, poetry, zines, articles, resource books, anthologies, photodocumentaries, etc. Videos, documentaries, and music are also welcomed. We are specifically interested in books by African, Arab, Asian, Black, Caribbean, Chicana, Indigenous, Native, and Latina authors. Donations should be mailed to the:
New Orleans Women’s Health Clinic
c/o WHJI
1406 Esplanade Ave.
New Orleans, LA 70116
For more information, please contact us at whji_info@yahoo.com or by phone at 504-524-8626.
Snagged wholesale from here, a post by tripolarexpress in debunkingwhite.
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1:54 pm - Dear Texas,
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You do know that your climate is absurd, right?
No love,
Jen
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| Monday, May 5th, 2008
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4:03 pm - This makes me so furious. So. Fucking. Furious.
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http://www.star-telegram.com/804/story/620493.html
Warning: Headline contains phrase "cries rape" and article is otherwise utterly infuriating.
Woman gets caught having sex with another man by her husband. She tells her husband the other man was trying to rape her (defense argues she feared for her life, which is totally plausible considering ensuing events), and husband shoots and kills the other man.
ETA: Husband had the gun out before the woman ever said rape, and the defense said that he shot the other man before she said rape as well, and that she didn't want to be the second victim.
WOMAN is charged and convicted of manslaughter. Husband IS NOT CHARGED WITH A CRIME.
AUGH THE WORLD HAS GONE MAD.
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(comment on this)
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| Saturday, May 3rd, 2008
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4:28 pm - Rec me books by women of color?
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Finals are nearly over, which means I will soon have time to read for pleasure again! I'd really appreciate recommendations of your favorite books by WOC: fiction or nonfiction, political or not, poetry, well-known or obscure, whatever you like.
Thanks!
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(11 comments | comment on this)
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| Thursday, May 1st, 2008
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7:55 pm - Today is blogging against disablism day.
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| Sunday, April 27th, 2008
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10:00 am - Don't Be That Guy by synecdochic
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| Saturday, April 26th, 2008
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1:43 am - Denim Day and the Month of April for Sexual Assault Awareness; Sexual Assault of Women of Color
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April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM) and April 23rd was Denim Day (I had it marked as today, the 26th, or I would have posted earlier, but it is still SAAM so you are going to hear from me anyway!)
Denim day is organized around wearing denim because of a 1998 Italian court decision in which a 45-year-old man's rape conviction was overturned by the Italian Supreme Court. In Rome in 1997, the accused was a driving instructor. It is alleged that when he picked up a 17-year-old girl for her first driving lesson, he raped her for an hour, then abandoned her in alley, leaving her to find her own way home.
While the alleged rapist was convicted and sentenced, the Supreme Court ruled on the appeal that because the victim was wearing tight jeans (jeans which the Court ruled could only be removed with her help) the woman must have consented to the act. This indicated consent made the incident consenual sex, not rape.
The Head Judge's decision argued that "because the victim wore very, very tight jeans, she had to help him remove them . . . and by removing the jeans . . . it was no longer rape but consensual sex." (More from Wikipedia)
Now, to reach my second point: in the wake of recent discussion about women of color and feminism, have some statistics:
According to the New York State Coalition Against Sexual Assault:
*Approximately 885,623 African-Americans were victims of violent crime during 2001.
This is the highest rate of violent victimization of any racial group (31.2 per 1000).
*In a 1994 survey of 243 women, the rates for adult rape showed African-American women disclosing the highest rate (37.9%), followed by white women (25.5%), Latinas (17.9%), and Asian-Americans (10.5%).
*EDIT: Statistic on pornographic websites redacted. More information can be found through the link at the bottom. See comments for explanation.
*A study of sexual abuse in the South Asian immigrant community was conducted between 1991 and 1993.
Interviewed were Indian, Pakistani, and Bangladeshi women ranging in age from early twenties to late forties with different socioeconomic backgrounds and different religions.
About 60% of the women spoke of being forced to have sex with their husbands against their will.
*For every one white woman that reports her rape, at least 5 white women do not report theirs; and yet, for every African-American woman that reports her rape, at least 15 African-American women do not report theirs.
*90% of Indian women in chemical dependency treatment are victims of rape and childhood sexual abuse.
In a study of American Indian Women’s Chemical Health Project, 75% of Indian women surveyed reported having experienced some type of sexual assault in their lives.
More statistics and citations here.
My apologies for not cutting this, but I believe it needs to be seen.
Please feel free to comment, link, cross-post, share your stories, educate your peers, whatever you can do to get the word out.
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(14 comments | comment on this)
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| Friday, April 25th, 2008
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11:06 am - Holy fucking shit, look at that racism. Also, white feminist anti-racism and its failure.
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http://dearwhitefeminists.wordpress.com/update/
For those of you following the Amanda Marcotte / Seal Press racist "feminism" debacle.
Goddamn.
You know, I'm a feminist, and I try to be an anti-racist ally, and I believe that the two should go hand-in-hand, but sometimes it seems like there's some sort of fundamental disconnect. The more I read the thoughts of women of color in the wake of this imbroglio, the stronger that feeling becomes, and I understand their side of it (white feminists are jackasses to women of color, this is alienating) but I'm not sure I understand my side of it.
I mean, I'm not just talking about the racist history of the feminist movement, and not just the current reality of white feminists not getting it in regards to race the way most white people never get it, but some deeper opposition. These images show some of it; I think it might be tied to white feminists finding empowerment and liberation not just to the exclusion of women of color, but to the detriment of people, especially women, of color. Like we're climbing up from oppression atop the backs of women of color, who will constantly be relegated to a lower rung, and justifying it using intersectionality, saying that it's because they're women + of color and so of course they have a harder time making it to the top, but in reality we exploit it or gloss over it with empty sympathy.
I feel it personally; I say that my feminism and my attempts at anti-racism are connected, because all oppressions feed on one another and intersect, but sometimes there is this feeling that the two never quite come together like they should. Like the two ideologies are perpetually separate, and I can be one or the other or both at the same time but not together, that something isn't meshing. I feel like a hypocrite because while I say (and believe) that my belief in anti-racism and in feminism are entwined, I feel like there's something I'm not grasping, something I should be doing that I'm not, some piece of the puzzle that's missing. I can't put my finger on it; maybe this is something that others have already figured out and I am way behind the times, and I know that women of color have been shouting about this and I am listening, but there is something I cannot understand.
As always, feel free to discuss at will. Or hit me with the clue bat.
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(6 comments | comment on this)
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| Thursday, April 24th, 2008
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4:15 pm - The Open Source Women Back Each Other Up Project
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From vito_excalibur's Open Source Women Back Each Other Up Project:
Here's my pledge (altered slightly from the original):
If I see somebody groping or harassing you in public, and you're not moaning, "Yes! Yes! Yes!" I will break through your Somebody Else's Problem invisibility field and come over and ask if you're okay. If your situation looks dangerous enough that I can't help on my own, I will call over friends or, if it's a situation in which I think the cops would be on your side, I will call the cops. If you're being harassed by someone, you can say so to me, even if you don't know me. I pledge I will distract them so you can get away, or I will tell them that they need to leave, or do whatever I can to the best of my ability. I pledge that I will give you the benefit of the doubt. If you tell me that someone just did something shitty to you I will not refuse to look at any evidence and tell you that I know them and they're a great person and you must have been imagining things. I pledge that I will walk you to your car if you don't feel safe walking alone at night, and then you can drive me to mine.
I will do this whether or not I like you, or even know you. It's not about liking you. It's about the fact that we need to back each other up, and I will need you to do this for me some day, as I have needed it in the past.
This is not a joke, it's not satire, it's not a thought experiment. Please join.
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