Note that anti-racist doesn’t mean “Racist against the race that isn’t currently the victim”, and it doesn’t mean “giving the targeted population special privileges in unrelated fields, to make up for it”. It means “Calling out all prejudice/hate when it happens, and addressing and reversing systemic biases that keep the underprivileged people underprivileged”
If one can’t agree with this description of being anti-racist, they’re either not helping bring about the equality they may claim to want, or they’re actually just a racist themselves and lack either empathy, perspective, or both
it doesn’t mean “giving the target population special privileges in unrelated fields to make up for it”
Your language overall makes me think you’re fine but I’d be lying if I didn’t say this particular part didn’t catch my attention. Is there a reason you felt the need to say this? In the context of affirmative action being repealed in the US it feels a tad loaded. Giving the benefit of the doubt here truly, but still curious why you felt the need to say this.
This is a common argument against affirmative action (which was not repealed in the US overall, just banned in a few very conservative states (although if I missed some major news about it being repealed on a federal level please don’t hesitate to educate me) ), I’m addressing that common counterargument by saying that it’s not what anti-racism seeks to do. Same as the example counterargument before it. That one’s referring to the types who spout nonsense such as “But that’s just being racist to white people!!1!”. They’re correct that it wouldn’t be helpful, but incorrect in their assessment that that’s the main goal of the movement.
That said, I do think that some movements and initiatives, which I will preemptively decline to name because the details and scope of these initiatives are irrelevant, are misguided in how they want to bring about equity. These movements do feed into the arguments of people who claim that affirmative action is just giving queer/nonwhite/poor/otherwise marginalized people special privileges, and that’s why I want to set them aside as separate from the concept as anti-racist.
In common leftist theory is known the enemy of the left is the moderate liberal, who wouldn’t mind if equality were to happen quietly by magic but is not willing to suffer inconvenience or breaches of the status quo in the process of making change for the better for the whole public.
And yes, a lot of the democratic voter lumpenproletariat fall into this range, where they’re willing to buy a rainbow Frappuccino but not suffer from commute slowdown due to a protest.
Preach. To add to this: My wife and I have a lot of discussions about how to raise our kids as not just race conscious but how to not make marginalized groups teaching lessons for our kids. It’s been interesting to say the least.
Sure! I’m crashing right now so feel free to follow up but the short answer is proactivity and not worrying about public perception when it doesn’t matter.
For instance: if one of my kids goes “that person is black!” We don’t go “shhh shhh stop stop” and act like it’s the end of the world in public (or in private). We go “yes that man is black. What color skin do I have?” Or “yes that man’s skin is black. Daddy’s skin is white. People have different skin colors! What color is your skin?”
Shaming and acting like observing it is bad teaches them that there’s something wrong with it vs the simple reality that people look different. It’s not different than blond or back hair unless you make it a big deal.
As they get older, we’ll start (this is at least our plan) pointing out things like the race and gender of people in different roles around them. As they get more observant and curious our goal is to slowly introduce the concept of “gender roles” and inequality so that then don’t just internalize what they see with no context.
We don’t have it all figured out but we’re trying our best and we’ll adapt where we can.
Naturally if it any of this puts someone in an uncomfortable position we take it upon ourselves to apologize but we don’t make a massive deal about it to the kids or they get a very mixed message
Well, one time my kid said some misogynistic shit (it’s been a decade, I can’t remember the details) and I spent 10 or 15 minutes chewing him out in front of his siblings about how that’s inappropriate and wrong, with examples of the errors and results. When we were talking one time after he’d reached adulthood, he told me this turned him away from the path of radical anti-feminism.
No guarantees this will work in most circumstances, but it did this one time.
A lot of it is clearly age dependent and about what they did. My kids are very, very young. What the repeat doesn’t yet reflect what they believe. One is barely 2 so they are truly still a parrot lol so reacting big just often confuses them. As they get older no doubt I’ll drop the hammer if I hear something heinous.
“In a racist society, it is not enough to be non-racist, we must be anti-racist.” - Angela Y. Davis
Note that anti-racist doesn’t mean “Racist against the race that isn’t currently the victim”, and it doesn’t mean “giving the targeted population special privileges in unrelated fields, to make up for it”. It means “Calling out all prejudice/hate when it happens, and addressing and reversing systemic biases that keep the underprivileged people underprivileged”
If one can’t agree with this description of being anti-racist, they’re either not helping bring about the equality they may claim to want, or they’re actually just a racist themselves and lack either empathy, perspective, or both
Your language overall makes me think you’re fine but I’d be lying if I didn’t say this particular part didn’t catch my attention. Is there a reason you felt the need to say this? In the context of affirmative action being repealed in the US it feels a tad loaded. Giving the benefit of the doubt here truly, but still curious why you felt the need to say this.
This is a common argument against affirmative action (which was not repealed in the US overall, just banned in a few very conservative states (although if I missed some major news about it being repealed on a federal level please don’t hesitate to educate me) ), I’m addressing that common counterargument by saying that it’s not what anti-racism seeks to do. Same as the example counterargument before it. That one’s referring to the types who spout nonsense such as “But that’s just being racist to white people!!1!”. They’re correct that it wouldn’t be helpful, but incorrect in their assessment that that’s the main goal of the movement.
That said, I do think that some movements and initiatives, which I will preemptively decline to name because the details and scope of these initiatives are irrelevant, are misguided in how they want to bring about equity. These movements do feed into the arguments of people who claim that affirmative action is just giving queer/nonwhite/poor/otherwise marginalized people special privileges, and that’s why I want to set them aside as separate from the concept as anti-racist.
Makes sense. Appreciate the elaboration!
In common leftist theory is known the enemy of the left is the moderate liberal, who wouldn’t mind if equality were to happen quietly by magic but is not willing to suffer inconvenience or breaches of the status quo in the process of making change for the better for the whole public.
And yes, a lot of the democratic voter lumpenproletariat fall into this range, where they’re willing to buy a rainbow Frappuccino but not suffer from commute slowdown due to a protest.
Preach. To add to this: My wife and I have a lot of discussions about how to raise our kids as not just race conscious but how to not make marginalized groups teaching lessons for our kids. It’s been interesting to say the least.
I don’t have kids so I don’t even know how to begin teaching that. Mind enlightening me a bit if you have some time?
Sure! I’m crashing right now so feel free to follow up but the short answer is proactivity and not worrying about public perception when it doesn’t matter.
For instance: if one of my kids goes “that person is black!” We don’t go “shhh shhh stop stop” and act like it’s the end of the world in public (or in private). We go “yes that man is black. What color skin do I have?” Or “yes that man’s skin is black. Daddy’s skin is white. People have different skin colors! What color is your skin?”
Shaming and acting like observing it is bad teaches them that there’s something wrong with it vs the simple reality that people look different. It’s not different than blond or back hair unless you make it a big deal.
As they get older, we’ll start (this is at least our plan) pointing out things like the race and gender of people in different roles around them. As they get more observant and curious our goal is to slowly introduce the concept of “gender roles” and inequality so that then don’t just internalize what they see with no context.
We don’t have it all figured out but we’re trying our best and we’ll adapt where we can.
Naturally if it any of this puts someone in an uncomfortable position we take it upon ourselves to apologize but we don’t make a massive deal about it to the kids or they get a very mixed message
Nice, thanks for sharing. Yeah it that makes more sense then I thought it would.
It’s parenting no one has it all figured out but from my estimation you’re not far off.
Thanks for asking! It’s actually something I like discussing. It helps me organize my thoughts a bit
Well, one time my kid said some misogynistic shit (it’s been a decade, I can’t remember the details) and I spent 10 or 15 minutes chewing him out in front of his siblings about how that’s inappropriate and wrong, with examples of the errors and results. When we were talking one time after he’d reached adulthood, he told me this turned him away from the path of radical anti-feminism.
No guarantees this will work in most circumstances, but it did this one time.
A lot of it is clearly age dependent and about what they did. My kids are very, very young. What the repeat doesn’t yet reflect what they believe. One is barely 2 so they are truly still a parrot lol so reacting big just often confuses them. As they get older no doubt I’ll drop the hammer if I hear something heinous.