IBARW posts collected on 2009-7-31 (2/2)

[kate_nepveu]

Behind the cut are IBARW posts collected on Delicious in the last 24 hours ( more details) [ Part One].

• wheelwithin: IBARW: Underdog Complex :: ...Our society glorifies the underdog fighting against impossible odds to get to the top, to "make it", to jump from nobody to superstar in the land of opportunity. Everyone wants to be the underdog; no one wants to be the Man, the Establishment, the Authorities, whatever. Discussions of race tend to bring white people face to face with their privilege, so avoidance tactics emerge almost reflexively.
  
  (tags: ibarw ibarw4 by.poc by.nonwhite.people united.states english.language white.privilege race reverse.racism color.blindness discourse)
• Debbie Notkin: Against Racism :: The science fiction world is an interesting microcosm of racism and anti-racist work in the larger American society: this past year has been a difficult one, with lots of internet and real-world controversies, lots of anger and pain on all sides, and lots of extremely constructive responses to both individual and institutionalized racism.
  
  (tags: ibarw ibarw4 english.language race white.privilege racism books.ya books.science-fiction/fantasy united.states privilege publishing)
• karnythia: We Have Feelings Too or The Cost OF Being A POC in Race Discussions :: One of the things people tend to say to me (especially after they've tried to hammer sense into someone's head for hours only to discover that bigotry can be a security blanket to some people) is that they don't know how I keep my calm in these conversations. And I tend to wave it off, because really I don't see a point in talking about the emotional impact of participating in these discussions. No, that's a lie. I do talk about it. In safe spaces, behind closed doors with people I know I can trust. Because that's the only place it's (generally) acceptable to show weakness as an anti-racist POC. Otherwise the slurs and the misconceptions and the appropriation and the fucking fail will make you cry in front of people who have already made it clear that your feelings don't matter to them.
  
  (tags: ibarw ibarw4 by.poc by.nonwhite.people black african.american united.states english.language discourse race white.privilege cultural.appropriation education racism martin.luther.king)
• marydell: [IBARW] Interracial Adoption: Random Thoughts & Advice :: Your child loses something of value when they are placed in a family that doesn't share their race. You can and should take steps to mitigate that loss and help them to develop as healthy of a racial identity as possible, so they don't feel like a fraud. But don't kid yourself that they haven't lost anything.
  
  (tags: ibarw ibarw4 by.white.people race adoption united.states white culture ethnicity english.language)
• 
  avendya: IBARW: I, Too, Sing America & Will V-Day Be Me-Day Too? :: Two poems by Langston Hughes. "... When I've helped this world to save,/Shall I still be color's slave?/Or will Victory change/Your antiquated views?..."
  
  (tags: ibarw ibarw4 by.poc by.nonwhite.people united.states black african.american english.language poetry race racism)
• mzrowan: [IBARW] Is Burning Man a bastion of white privilege? :: ...what we have here is an organization run largely by and for a certain culture, which also happens to be the dominant, most-privileged culture. People from other cultures are going to be at a systematic disadvantage when they try to deal with them.
  
  (tags: ibarw ibarw4 united.states english.language representation white.privilege by.poc by.nonwhite.people privilege)
• karnythia: Context Matters or How Not to Act in Discussions of Racism :: See, here's the thing. My skin color and my gender are not mutually exclusive. At all. I'm a woman. I'm black. I'm a BLACK WOMAN. And there's this crazy concept known as intersectionality which acknowledges the reality that people can be subject to more than one oppression. The flip side of that coin? You can participate in oppression even while being oppressed. So, since racism hasn't gone away (clearly, just look at the news) of course WOC are not going to pretend their skin color doesn't impact their lives.
  
  (tags: ibarw ibarw4 by.poc by.nonwhite.people black english.language cultural.appropriation race white.privilege privilege intersectionality gender racism.101 united.states african.american)
• jonquil: In my fantasy, you don't exist. :: You've probably heard about the anger at the reworking of Avatar: The Last Airbender. The director, M. Night Shyamelan, has taken a carefully-crafted world that is based on careful research into East Asian, South Asian, and Inuit cultures, and a story none of whose characters is white, and whitewashed both the setting and the actors.
  
  (tags: ibarw ibarw4 united.states english.language tv avatar racebending white.washing representation)
• parallactic: [IBARW] Hellsing: Pretty Comes in Shades Other Than Pale :: This isn't a post about writing styles, purple prose, how much ff.net sucks, or bad/immature writers. This is about what the purple prose, or any type of prose, describes. Namely, skin color.
  
  (tags: ibarw ibarw4 race ethnicity anime/manga hellsing media.(mis)representation white.washing english.language)
• bookelfe: Awesome chromatic TV ladies :: It's IBARW! When it comes to deep and thoughtful posts - of which I have seen a ton of awesome ones this year already - I think it is probably better for me to shut up and listen and read, and which I am very much doing.Fangirling, however, is something I am always happy to do - so without further ado, I present to you some TV ladies who are both a.) completely awesome and b.) not white. I am not even saying 'top five' because there is no rankings, just the first ones I could think of and easily find images of.
  
  (tags: ibarw ibarw4 english.language tv role.models women.of.color gender firefly battlestar.galactica merlin robin.hood the.middleman)
• 
  avendya: IBARW: Immigrant Blues :: A poem by Li-Young Lee entitled "Immigrant Blues:" "People have been trying to kill me since I was born,/a man tells his son, trying to explain/the wisdom of learning a second tongue. ..."
  
  (tags: ibarw ibarw4 by.poc by.nonwhite.people race english.language poetry assimilation language united.states)
• elaran: at the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps :: I have so many issues with India. So so so damn many. There are so many things going wrong, so much poverty, so much corruption, so much prejudice. We visit my grandparents and extended family in India every few years - Mum goes more regularly then Sid and I go. The trips I made before my latest one - I came away shifting between feeling amazed that I was part of a culture that has such an incredibly rich history to wanting to deny that I was Indian, because that meant I was part of the system that resulted in what I saw everywhere; things that made me react with such revulsion - that people starved to death, lived in filth, suffered diseases so unseen in Western countries for decades whilst I got to go back to Australia and go to my private school and have extra-curricular activities and bitch about how I wasn't allowed to bring home library books to read.
  
  (tags: ibarw ibarw4 by.poc by.nonwhite.people australia india indian english.language discourse colonialism class history identity poverty imperialism)
• elaran: Untitled :: I feel guilty sometimes for being interested in other cultures when I feel like I should learn more about my own. I still think of myself as Indian, Australian has not ever come to mind first in terms of that. I like that it says I am 'Australian' in my passport for my nationality but every time I see it, it still jolts a little.This just makes me go back to trying to think what 'home' means to me. When I wrote postcards from India, if I mentioned home, it meant my grandmother's house because when I am in India, that is where I think of as my home - which might have been a bit confusing if reading the postcard.Home means different things when I am in India and Australia. When I am in India, I refer to home-in-Aus as 'in Perth' or 'in Australia'. I probably have but only rarely so [or maybe I just have a shit memory] referred to Perth as 'back home' when I am in India. It feels like some weird betrayal or something.
  
  (tags: ibarw ibarw4 by.poc by.nonwhite.people australia indian english.language links recommended.reading identity)
• imperial_artist: IBARW 4: Identity - the implications of ‘multiracial’ :: This idea of ‘passing’ is quite a new one to me because it’s never been something I’ve come across personally. It seems to be about actively trying to be something you’re not to the point of wanting to be excluded from your own community and that fact alone puts pay to the myth. Who really wants to be entirely cut off from their heritage? Even if you separate from your immediately family, your extended family, your community even wouldn’t you still glory in your heritage, a few individuals you dislike aside? Of course this is where the whole myth tips things on its head. You’re meant to glory in your white heritage all other things aside.
  
  (tags: ibarw ibarw4 by.poc united.kingdom english.language white.privilege race links identity burmese by.nonwhite.people anglo-burmese assimilation subcultures ethnicity)
• smallcaps: tāngata whenua: people of the land :: There are Māori role models everywhere, like sands on the shores. We need to talk about them more.
  
  (tags: ibarw ibarw4 maori english.language maori.language women.of.color history role.models links by.white.people)
• 
  marny_h96: IBARW 4: Hopefully Helpful Links :: I've compiled a list with links to websites (mostly in German, some are in English, too) about racism/anti-racism, being black in Germany etc. I hope those will be helpful not only for me.
  
  (tags: ibarw ibarw4 germany black english.language german.language links recommended.reading race)
• 
  rosefox: "Show your face, show them who you are, 'cause you're going far" (IBARW, day 3) :: Three links and an anecdote.
  
  (tags: ibarw ibarw4 race politics institutional.racism recommended.reading links gentrification united.states)
• 
  skibbley: A spot more for International Blog Against Racism Week :: I was thinking yesterday of my childhood, what it was like and what I would have liked, and parenthood...
  
  (tags: ibarw ibarw4 by.poc united.kingdom english.language racism race diversity anti.semitism school integration identity multiracial by.nonwhite.people)
• tielan: IBARW: Why, Yes, I Speak Excellent English, Thank You For Noticing :: I look Chinese, but I was born in Australia, bred in Australia. I speak without an accent (or, if you're from anywhere but Oz, with an Australian accent). All the documentation that proves I legally exist as a citizen of the world and Australia - birth certificate, passport, driver's licence, tax records, electoral enrolment - has been issued by the Australian government.To all intents and purposes, I come from Australia. There is no 'back' to send me to.
  
  (tags: ibarw ibarw4 by.nonwhite.people australia asian chinese english.language race stereotypes racism identity by.poc)
• eumelia: [ibarw] From Minority to Majority: the not-so-common Immigration story. :: ...Thinking about what to write this year and working closely with my dad in his Pharmacy for the past year or so, I came to the conclusion that my family's experience as immigrants falls into a very unique story. On the one hand, they've had to deal with the regular run-of-the-mill issues have to deal with; the language barrier, the culture shock, the separation from family and finding a community of other people with a background similar to their own.One big difference though.They left a country in which they were an ethnic and religious minority and came to a country in which they are an ethnic and religious majority.
  
  (tags: ibarw ibarw4 by.white.people israel white jewish english.language immigration anti.semitism privilege identity)

Comment here with new IBARW links (which will be collected today by laurashapiro), or tag them for:ibarw on Delicious. If your post is tagged wrong, please comment at this post.