wretchedoftheearth:

The problem here isn’t that I want white people to support white supremacy or men to support the patriarchy. I don’t want them to “disregard” it either, since that doesn’t do anything. I want them to do something about it.

I just don’t want white people or men (or any privileged group) to go prancing around as if they’re experts on oppression from a position of privilege. You will never truly know and understand an axis of oppression unless you’ve experienced it. You can read all of the theory you want, all of the tumblr posts you want, and yet you can still only begin to understand it. 

It’s just super uncomfortable to me to read posts from people who separate themselves from other people in their group. Privilege isn’t something you choose, so you can’t just get rid of it. You can use it to do good things but it’s not good to decide that your privilege and socialized entitlement are irrelevant. In doing so, you’re talking over people with actual experience in the situation (a display of privilege in and of itself) and you’re separating yourself from other people in your group.

I understand that it can feel shitty being grouped with other white people or other men, but deluding yourself into thinking you’re magically Not Like Them benefits no one. Simply saying that you’re Not Like the Others doesn’t prove it to anyone either.

I’m not saying that all men and white people are the same in terms of misogyny and racism - obviously - but most have at least been in the same place as other people in their group, and it makes less sense to pretend “oh well my racism and sexism are solved” and think that it’s the end of it instead educating other white people and men. That’s something helpful you can do.

TL;DR because I’m incoherent right now 

1. talking as if you’re not privileged is silly because your privilege informs your experience, thoughts, and behavior

2. treating yourself as different and thus entitled to talk about oppression is an abuse of your privilege in itself

3. your privilege is better suited educating people who have privilege like you, as they’re more likely to listen to you anyway

[Rebloggable by request]

big-wired:

thinkspeakstress:

White vegans telling SA victims that they’re supporting rape by eating meat and drinking milk

White folk trying to say soul food isn’t Black, but Southern.

White folk riding Black folk for their grammar.

Wat

WAT

Tumblr.

White people of Tumblr.

Who is y’all.

What ether did y’all pop out from?

Please tell me

Because I want to send you back.

Sorry, I have no idea… maybe there should be a test written by POC for white people to take, and those who fail are shot off into the sun because some of the massive fail I see just can’t be excused.

sonic-hip-attack:

thisgingersnapsback:

alldolleddown:

Reminding us how awesome and inclusive the feminist community can be.

For those of you who don’t know, white-brite is an individual who recently ‘renounced her race’ and created a (grossly false) privilege hierarchy, as seen below:

Additionally, her blog is filled with page after page of her denying her own privilege, and then demanding that people ‘educate themselves’.

So let’s go through this again.

1. You cannot renounce your race. You and I, as white (passing) people have white privilege, and that privilege is enduring. Every time you deny or ‘renounce’ that privilege, you are contributing to white supremacy, and the oppression of people of color.
2. As an admittedly white, cis, heterosexual woman, you have (aside from white cis men and possibly white trans* men) the most privilege. You are not ‘low on the totem pole’ (which, congrats on the appropriative use of that term).
3. You are the reason feminism is flawed. You are the reason that so many people cannot identify with the movement. By refusing to see how intersectionality actually works, you are actively enabling oppressive structures. You are excluding people, especially WoC, from your movement. You are doing more harm than good (and, quite frankly, I haven’t seen you contribute positively to anything).

I suppose that all of your faux-feminism must be exhausting, especially if you are resorting to the dismissal of valid arguments with (laughably ineffective) insults.

You are not helping anyone. You are actively contributing to the oppression of marginalized groups (among them, PoC and trans* individuals). You are actively making feminism less inclusive.

boom

oh my god her hierarchy

I want to laugh, but this is such a clear representation of THE PROBLEM.

how the fuck can ANYONE believe someone who is Black, trans*, AND gay has more privilege than a white cis straight girl

How can this be what feminism is about

fuck

someone failed you, kid. And in turn, you’re failing everyone. 

thisiswhiteprivilege:

White privilege is White people demanding that this blog, TIWP, (or any blog where race is mentioned by a PoC for that matter) be “educational” or “social justice,” as if you have no right to create and use this blog as you see fit.

Again, the concept that your (and other PoC) experiences should be conveyed in a way that “teaches” Whites, and ultimately is in service of them, is pretentious and annoying.

PoC do not solely exist for the service of Whites, even if that service, as defined by Whites, is supposed to make them “better people” and “less racist.” THE ONUS IS ON THEM to educate themselves and improve. They are to take initiative for themselves. We are not their maids of soul-fixing, integrity-creating, racism-rejecting skill development. We are not their ”magical Negroes” of the blogosphere. That is annoying enough when conveyed through media, let alone people expecting it in real life.

IF someone learns from what is shared on any blog by any PoC, great. But PoC bloggers are NOT required to create or gear their blogs towards “teaching Whites.”

submission from gradientlair.tumblr.com

And this is why I always say, “White folks, you are welcome to be here and if you learn something, fantastic, but THIS SHIT WAS NOT MADE FOR YOU.”

thisiswhiteprivilege:

White privilege is a group of DC-area affluent dudes forming a company, installing a PoC as CEO to be able to compete for minority-owned, 8a government contracts (bonus points if they can score a woman PoC), and filling the IT and administrative departments with PoC to attain high government evaluation scores for minority hires. All the while the majority of the well paying technical jobs in the company are white engineers and the vast majority of profits go to the original core group of white founders. Then, when you lose your 8a status a few years down the line, oust your PoC CEO with a “substantial” severance package and let that money keep rolling in and complain about the “uncultured ghetto people” that drag down DC.

Welcome to private contracting for the federal government.

People of color are.

It’s not a competition. It has nothing to do with “oppression olympics.” It’s just fact. And I don’t understand why it’s so hard to grasp. I don’t get why people are so determined to be oppressed when they aren’t. Wouldn’t you just be grateful that you don’t have to endure something so horrible, and move on?

Someone explain this to me. Because I just don’t get it. Maybe amongst white people this is a cute thing to do. Maybe it’s just trendy to you. But to us who actually live this? You look Really Darn Stupid trying to claim racial oppression, and we’re just laughing at you, because you don’t want this.

You don’t want this.

You want the sympathy that you think comes with it. And guess what? WE GET NO SYMPATHY. We get blamed. We get stereotypes. We get told to be quiet, to stop complaining, to be grateful that one knife in the neck is all that we’re getting, as if that makes it all better. We get told to learn our place. We get called uppity, we get more slurs thrown at us, and we get absolutely no one coming to our defense.

If you want this—if this, white people, is what you want so badly—then you’ll be interested in this next part. Here’s what we people of color wish we could tell you white people who are so determined to be racially oppressed: If you want it so badly, then by all means, take it.

TAKE IT. Because we do not want it. Contrary to belief, we don’t choose to be racially oppressed, and we don’t have this happen for funsies. We don’t do anything to warrant this treatment. We fight to be treated with some semblance of respect, and as a result, we get ridiculed. We get told that racial divides are our fault because our attempts at support and solidarity are seen as THREATENING to white people; because god forbid we want to be around someone other than you to retain our sanity and let down our guard for a single second. God forbid we want to drop the double consciousness. God forbid we want to stop having to walk on eggshells because any mistake we make will be a shadow cast upon the many millions of individuals who have nothing more in common with us than our heritage.

But for some reason, you want to claim this experience as your own. You’re desperate to say that this is how you live every day. And you know what? We would gladly give you take all of our oppression if we could, since you want it so badly. But we can’t.

So this is something you just won’t get to experience. Poor you.

stfuandlistenwhitepeople:

I find myself constantly trying to get people to understand the differences between racism, discrimination, and prejudice. While racism encapsulates discrimination and prejudice, discrimination doesn’t encapsulate racism and prejudice encapsulates neither. This is a concept that I have trouble…