Facebook Publication Date: 10/10/2019 13:10
The context is useful, but there are some bits here to work with that carry into all of our lives. What is your small snowball?
How do we prevent the accumulation and acceleration of those seemingly “small” acts?
What metaphor do you use when viewing Lace on Race?
How does that set up a dynamic of power?
Where have you used helpfulness to avoid the work?
How is helpfulness used as a power move?
From M Boe Flores
“I do want to point out something here that you’ve said several times, Joanne, which is that you see all of this from one simple suggestion. I see it somewhat differently, and I find that important to address. Your suggestion didn’t sit on its own. It also carried a slam on Jess, without you knowing, and your serious lack of context.
That aside, I don’t see “all of this” coming from a simple suggestion. Everything after came because you were offended that your suggestion was turned down, that it wasn’t cheerfully accepted. The resulting conversation that tried to address the microaggressions and actually pretty bold aggressions you made in subsequent responses is not because of a simple suggestion. Rather, it is because of the snowball effect of small acts of racism that tend to pick up speed and size as they are defended. That initial little snowball rolled all the way down the hill, culminating in you saying you stood up to who you thought was a black woman, and that confronting your internalized racism is not for you.
For someone who said on this thread that you knew Lace so well after three days, the experience here suggests differently.
I am not confident that you are walking away with any thoughts other than feeling justified in offering your suggestion. Yet, I hope that you might reflect on the way that suggestion snowballed into some pretty racist statements and reactions. Honestly, we weren’t able to address or walk through half of those because you kept insisting this was all about a simple suggestion.
Just like when a well meaning white woman suggests to black co-worker that maybe she would advance if she only changed her tone, or thought about wearing a different hair style. A simple suggestion, right? All these little helpful moves we white people offer to make the lives of black people easier, because if only they changed some simple things, surely this deeply racist stew we are all living in would just float away.
That isn’t how it works. You brought up that a teacher should speak and act a certain way for students to learn. This thread gives a pretty good example of why that metaphor is a dangerous one. It should not be on marginalized communities to teach us the way we desire. One, we aren’t paying a damn thing for it. And two, we as white people still hold the power.
We are already predisposed to favor white, comfortable voices. Which means, there are no contortions of comfort that can be made to bring the message of anti-racism to white people without losing the message of anti-racism in the process. White Supremacy is the air we breath. The sooner we can acknowledge that then the sooner we can start seeing the subtle framework of power we use as white people to always hold top position.
Honestly, it shouldn’t have taken this thread for you to realize this is a basic premise we hold as a community. I think it is a surprise for us as white people that we can’t just enter every space and assume our way of being is good to go. Yet, there isn’t a single space in real life that a black person can go without gathering context, information, ways of speaking, ways of being, etc all to stay safe. It truly speaks to our white position that we are aghast to learn we have to know community rules and context in spaces of anti-racism in order to be present while doing minimal harm.”
Permalink: https://www.facebook.com/laceonrace/posts/pfbid024ppH2CuYrSZG8k13XjU45GeFbbR3E2YX9bX25LkgZkeHJdhdweeb9csa1hd7CfTAl
Post Type: Text
Caption Type: N/A
Is Cross Post: 0
Is Share: 0
Impressions: 2
Reach: 2
Reactions: 0
Comments: 23
Shares: 0