A little clean up from our last discussion on race.
Reminder to self to join deadbrowalking, bobthehaitian, and fanficofcolor after my HP hiatus.
First, great thanks to everyone who commented on my last post. You've given me hope and energy to keep posting about race as best I can, and see where it leads us. Particular thanks to those of you who are mixed race, because I feel more and more that being mixed is even it's own weird little bag, and also to all you PoC's who left messages of support.
Through the recent and excellent PoC SF Carnival #1, which I recommend to everyone, I found a link to a cartoon that is the story of my life: This Is Dedicated to That One Black Kid, by Keith Knight. Seriously, if one more person I don't know asks to touch my hair … never mind that it makes me sad to think that there ARE people saying that because they know me, they can't possibly be a racist. It makes me want to say, "I am not the black girl you're looking for."
In that last entry on race, many of you said that you hesitate in participating in race discussions because you feel that you don't have anything to say, don't know the right things to say, don't have enough knowledge, etc, and to you I replied, individually, that no one knows all the answers (certainly not me), that I will endeavor to make this LJ as safe a place as I can for the expression of ideas and questions though I am not your one-stop education on race, and that of course you have something to say, because you'd commented with something other than the expression of that thought.
I'm going to go one step further now: That post was the last time you can use that excuse. sixersfan's comment said this better than I could: your lack of experience and lack of knowledge about the subject is a benefit of the racist society we are discussing. If you are white and American, race effects your life. Go learn about it. It's your responsibility to seek it out, not mine to give you learning, but I can give you some links:
Simon Schama is doing a series called The Power of Art that's running on American public television now, and I was rewatching his piece on Picasso's Guernica this morning. I've wanted to have Schama's gap-toothed babies for a while now, but this struck a nerve with me this morning:This, for me, is what all great art has to do: crash into our lazy routines. The routine that Guernica tears into is a sickness of our as well as Picasso's time-the habit of taking violent evil in our stride, the yawn at the massacre. Seen it before. Go away. Don't spoil the fun of art. But Guernica isn't with us for fun. It's there to rip away the scar tissue, to make us bleed, to rob us of our sleep. So, what can art do when the bombs start dropping? It can instruct us on the obligations of being human.
Now, I'm not saying that fanfiction is akin to Guernica, or should be. But something about that line, "Don't spoil the fun of art" reminded me of some responses to any conversation about race in fandom. "Don't spoil my fun with politics. Why should I have to think about this for my hobby?"
I've been thinking about this a lot, because lord knows I don't want to spoil anyone's fun, but Schama has given me an answer: Too Bad.
The only reason that being forced to think about race spoils your fun is because you are race privileged, and therefore you get to not have to think about race when you don't want to. I never get to not think about race. It's always there, in the back of my mind, and not because I'm fixated on it. It isn't even the first way I'd describe myself or my first filter on the world. It's there in the same way that most women can't forget they're women, or do to their peril.
So I'm insulted, really, that thinking about race would spoil your fun. Why would being respectful to others be a damper? Is there only fun in disrespect? Is there only fun in unthinkingly playing in the sandbox? Because that is what that phrase, "don't spoil our fun" implies, that thinking about race would wreck the good times.
Well, I'm here to lay down this gauntlet: We will stay stuck in the place we are in until all the race-privileged, wherever they are and however they are privileged, realize that race affects every single day of their life just as surely as it affects every day of my life, and until they lay down the privilege of not having to "think" about it. Until you are as aware of what you have and what you lack because of race, and until I can come to a clearer picture of what I have and what I lack because of race, we will never find a solution. Your wish to stick your head in the sand is not only holding us all back. It is, taking from Schama again, abdicating the obligations of being human.
I know that I remind everyone who knows me about race every time they see me. I know that I remind everyone who sees my entries and comments about race every time I use an icon of myself and show my skin color. I know that I certainly can remind everyone who reads this livejournal about race every time I talk about it, or just post a story about Dean. I don't get to forget, and neither should you.
First, great thanks to everyone who commented on my last post. You've given me hope and energy to keep posting about race as best I can, and see where it leads us. Particular thanks to those of you who are mixed race, because I feel more and more that being mixed is even it's own weird little bag, and also to all you PoC's who left messages of support.
Through the recent and excellent PoC SF Carnival #1, which I recommend to everyone, I found a link to a cartoon that is the story of my life: This Is Dedicated to That One Black Kid, by Keith Knight. Seriously, if one more person I don't know asks to touch my hair … never mind that it makes me sad to think that there ARE people saying that because they know me, they can't possibly be a racist. It makes me want to say, "I am not the black girl you're looking for."
In that last entry on race, many of you said that you hesitate in participating in race discussions because you feel that you don't have anything to say, don't know the right things to say, don't have enough knowledge, etc, and to you I replied, individually, that no one knows all the answers (certainly not me), that I will endeavor to make this LJ as safe a place as I can for the expression of ideas and questions though I am not your one-stop education on race, and that of course you have something to say, because you'd commented with something other than the expression of that thought.
I'm going to go one step further now: That post was the last time you can use that excuse. sixersfan's comment said this better than I could: your lack of experience and lack of knowledge about the subject is a benefit of the racist society we are discussing. If you are white and American, race effects your life. Go learn about it. It's your responsibility to seek it out, not mine to give you learning, but I can give you some links:
- Eric Foner's A Short History of Reconstruction.
- Patricia Nelson Limerick's The Legacy of Conquest, a groundbreaking history on how race worked in the American West.
- Solidarity Design's Suggested Reading (particularly the section on Becoming a Critical Ally)
- The Angry Black Woman's Required Reading.
Simon Schama is doing a series called The Power of Art that's running on American public television now, and I was rewatching his piece on Picasso's Guernica this morning. I've wanted to have Schama's gap-toothed babies for a while now, but this struck a nerve with me this morning:This, for me, is what all great art has to do: crash into our lazy routines. The routine that Guernica tears into is a sickness of our as well as Picasso's time-the habit of taking violent evil in our stride, the yawn at the massacre. Seen it before. Go away. Don't spoil the fun of art. But Guernica isn't with us for fun. It's there to rip away the scar tissue, to make us bleed, to rob us of our sleep. So, what can art do when the bombs start dropping? It can instruct us on the obligations of being human.
Now, I'm not saying that fanfiction is akin to Guernica, or should be. But something about that line, "Don't spoil the fun of art" reminded me of some responses to any conversation about race in fandom. "Don't spoil my fun with politics. Why should I have to think about this for my hobby?"
I've been thinking about this a lot, because lord knows I don't want to spoil anyone's fun, but Schama has given me an answer: Too Bad.
The only reason that being forced to think about race spoils your fun is because you are race privileged, and therefore you get to not have to think about race when you don't want to. I never get to not think about race. It's always there, in the back of my mind, and not because I'm fixated on it. It isn't even the first way I'd describe myself or my first filter on the world. It's there in the same way that most women can't forget they're women, or do to their peril.
So I'm insulted, really, that thinking about race would spoil your fun. Why would being respectful to others be a damper? Is there only fun in disrespect? Is there only fun in unthinkingly playing in the sandbox? Because that is what that phrase, "don't spoil our fun" implies, that thinking about race would wreck the good times.
Well, I'm here to lay down this gauntlet: We will stay stuck in the place we are in until all the race-privileged, wherever they are and however they are privileged, realize that race affects every single day of their life just as surely as it affects every day of my life, and until they lay down the privilege of not having to "think" about it. Until you are as aware of what you have and what you lack because of race, and until I can come to a clearer picture of what I have and what I lack because of race, we will never find a solution. Your wish to stick your head in the sand is not only holding us all back. It is, taking from Schama again, abdicating the obligations of being human.
I know that I remind everyone who knows me about race every time they see me. I know that I remind everyone who sees my entries and comments about race every time I use an icon of myself and show my skin color. I know that I certainly can remind everyone who reads this livejournal about race every time I talk about it, or just post a story about Dean. I don't get to forget, and neither should you.