Language - attention: long(ue)
I have recently been informed by multiple monolingual anglophones that discrimination based on language is not racism. At best, I am conceeded that it is discrimination but racism, many have asserted, is skin deep and skin pigmentation alone. In the interest of giving this due consideration, if I am to accept this, I then need a vocabulary to precise discrimination based on language apart from non-specific discrimination or those already defined by their own specific vocabulary (e.g. sexism, heterosexism, etc.)
Also, from the get go, I want to be clear on where I stand on racism as I understand it. For the last ~6-7 years, I have been of the school thought that by virtue of my whiteness, I am racist. There is no qualifer to my whiteness, I am white. If you are suddendly frightened that I secretly have a white hood in my closet, you are probably equating racism to xenophobia. (Yes, yes, it's true. I'm making a generalization. I do them all the time despite knowing better. Culpa mia.)Homophobia is the fear and/or hatred of queers. Heterosexism is the privilege given to heterosexuality and to straight folks. Misogyny is the hatred of women. Sexism is the belief that male is somehow better/superior/entitled to more value and/or consideration/estime, etc. If you would like me to consider affirmative action based on sex to be "reverse sexism", I encourage you to save your time or risk fellow feminists on my flist to take you to task. Xenophobia is the hatred and/or fear of people of other "races." (I put quotation marks as a visual queue to question what makes up race, why and how, not at all to dismiss the reality of systems based of the various social constructions and their understanding of what is loosely referred to as "race".) Racism is the belief that certain "races" are somehow better/superior/entitled to more value and/or consideration/estime, etc. It is the way that certain "races" are rendered invisible by ommission, suppression, etc. Within the realities of today's world, whiteness is the "race" with the most privilege and power.
Matthew Sheppard was killed by homophobes. The elementary school teacher that refuses to discuss queerness to hir students because they are "too young" to hear/know about it is agist and heterosexist. The 1st Nations left to freeze to death in snowbanks by cops are victims of a racially motivated/xenophobic hate crime. A "Canadian" history course that begins on the date that European colonialists landed on Turtle Island, ommits the diseased infested blankets given to natives, a Canadian school that only teaches French and English (and not any of the 1st Nations languages/dialects) while loathing "immigrants" that don't speak either/both governmentally recognized official languages is racist. _isms and _phobias are connected, the former gone unchecked (whether it is due to lack of awareness or an active choice to be complacent in the face of it by those who are more aware) leads to the later even if it in nearly all cases it is not the same people who did the former committing hate crimes founded in the later. Well intented "but I'm still learning" or "I didn't know" don't reduce one's _ism. Good intentions don't change reality. To give a non anti-oppression example: the people at Maple Leaf didn't mean to kill anyone by not taking every known precaution when cleaning their machines and packaging their products. Their best damage control PR and all the owning up of their fault does not bring those who have died back to life. But they meant well! They had their profits in mind not a desire to kill!
I am white. I continue to do my best to raise my awareness of all the ways I benefit from white supremacy. (if you think my vocabulary is too "radical" ... well ... I'm not going to apologise for using accurate wording, however hard I know it can be to accept its accuracy.) I do my best to lead my own consciousness raising and without it resulting at the unfair cost of POC. Do I always manage? Nope. I'd qualify that but it's the ugly truth, I don't. I keep trying harder, that's all I can do and that's all I can keep doing. If I don't, than my complacency/indifference further contributes to (systemic) racism. My efforts and desires to lead an anti-racist life do not in fact completely dismantle my white privilege and by virtue of continually benefitting from it, it not a likely story that in my lifetime, there is a shot at me becoming fully aware of my white privilege. All the ways in which I benefit whether I am aware of them or not, whether I am able to challenge them or not (because I can't always even though my will is there) is what makes me racist. You can ask virtually anyone who was in my life locally in '02 when I began to realise this and it was anything but an easy process for me to accept this. Do I still struggle here and there? Yup, there's no sugar coating that (because doing so would be racist). That much I'm aware of, and that's not tooting my horn like "OMG someone congratulate me for this much", but due to recent (read: over the last ~6-8 months) questioning of my anti-racist beliefs, I think it is justified within my own journal to lay this out.
The point is, when I say "I'm white ergo I am racist" I am not being sarcastic or buffing my ego of my anti-racism. It is my current understanding that I don't remember that often enough but the more I can admit to it when I am aware, the more I am being explicit in my understanding of systemic racism. I am locating my starting point in anti-racist dialogues utilizing the words according to the definitions I hold of them. If you want to discuss concepts behind definitions, this is fair (to a point) but I hope this helps clarify why it is that I say that sentence and will as often as I do in this post.
A few things have particularly struck me in the bitter exchanges of the last while. 1. All but one or two of the people who have felt able to voice how offended they have been (either by my own actions or how other's actions were addressed, depending on the case) anglophones from Turtle Island (predominantly the USA). Now granted, the demographics of who makes up the majority of the communities I belong to, as well as my flist, make this no surprise. No one that has attempted to have a conversation with me IRL about this has been bilingual/a polyglot. It's mostly been (both IRL and in the virtual world) white folks, but not exclusively. The most vocal WOC who wasn't an anglophone who tried to dialogue with me about this said things that made me question this person's internalized racism and generally sense of logic.
let me give you two examples. I brought up English's position at the global language of business in positioning its general power outside white (numerically) dominated context (i.e. Turtle Island and Europe). To this she replied that she was offended I called English a business language because don't I know that people in India use English all the time to discuss romantic things, leisures, etc. Well now, I'm not disputing her point, I know she's right. But eh... English isn't just used to do business on Turtle Island and Europe either. The qualifier "international language of business" does not mean that this is English's sole usage. Anywhere around the globe. I just... I heard what she said. I agree with it 100%. Unfortunately, it doesn't counter what I said, in the least. The two are not mutually exclusive/contradictory. But it was one of the reasons she called me a white supremacist fascist. Well... there you go. She said in the same e-mail not to bother responding she was done dialoguing with me. I respected her wishes. One of those things I have learnt to do as a white person when discussing "race" with a POC. I must question how much space I take up in the discussion (to be clear, this is not the same as not taking up any space) and question myself if I get a need to get the last word (subtext: at all cost). I didn't with her so it made it easy to read her reply, consider it and then not reply back with where I agreed and where I didn't.
When she brought up the merrits on individual languages, she placed English as significantly less racist in terms of vocabulary, expressions, etc. then any other language. I do not recall if she stated which was her 1st language (I do recall she mentioned being fluent in 5) but this stance and the way she defended it made me stop dead in my tracks. This is up there with informing me English is less sexist than French as a language because nouns don't have genders. "fill 'er up, Jimmy! Ain't she pretty, the car I own? And the house I park it in front of is beautiful. Can you believe that silly immigrant qualified it as handsome?" 0_o Look, grammatically, no, nouns in English don't have genders. But that doesn't change how pronouns referring to nouns are chosen, the adjective used to qualify them are selected, etc. etc. There are reasons certain words are masculin or feminim in French, but property ownership isn't one of them. And projecting one's "sex" unto possessive pronouns (e.g. his, her book) doesn't strike me as gendering an object less than letting the object's gender decide the pronoun (e.g. mon livre, whether the owner of the book is male, female, genderqueer, etc.) I'm not saying French isn't a sexist language, of course it is. But so is English. Just in different ways. Is French racist? Yes. Is English racist? Yes. Am I going to attempt an oppression olympic to figure out which is less racist? Don't be ludicrous. So an assertion either way made me pause big time.
And then there was the blasant statement that adding French as a postable language, was only going to benefit white people because those in Africa who live in former French colonies don't speak French, they speak Créole. And Créole isn't French. 1. I never said Créole was French. I didn't mention it period. 2. Explain to me how it is that the international school at which I did my kindergardeen and elementary years had children of workers from African embassies who spoke French as their 1st language. Did they speak Créole too? Most of them did, but perhaps unsurprisingly, having live their lives overseas, with only their parents and their co-workers as speaking a particular Créole (as there are many), some of them didn't speak any. But regardless, many countries in Africa have French as an official language. Is it due to the (de facto white supremacist/racist) colonialist history? Absolutely, 100%. Is it an all too eerily similarly white supremacist/racist history that lead to countries all around the African continent and the globe that have English as official languages. So... how is English less racist than French again?
Telling someone who does speak X language to speak it without Y accent is racist. When white racists do this on Turtle Island to Latin Americans, South/South-East Asians, non-Anglophones from the African continent, etc. this is considered by most self IDed anti-racist (& allies) as one of the multiple tools of systemic racism. This is in no small part because language is regarded as a key element in someone's ethnicity/culture/race (depends on an individual's definition of each, few people bother to take the time to stop and define any of them for themselves, nevermind to anyone else but often individuals assume everyone's working with the same definition... ah privilege, it's a lovely thing.) How many tales are there of whities (civilians, border controllers, cops, etc.) have been afraid of a Middle Eastern speaking in Arab within Turtle Island or Europe? Ask my 1st roommate at U of T why she hated anyone who spoke any language other than English around her. Her answer? "They must be talking about me." I don't know that I could ever find the words to do justice to the enormity of one's ego to believe this to ALWAYS be the case. If someone's looking/dodging your stare and/or pointing at you, etc. then sure, that is a valid suspicion/understandable conclusion but I'd not otherwise advise considering this esp. if you can't ask to confirm. I'm not the only one who concludes "wow, egotistical ignorant bigot" when that happens.
"But Matt, you're white. Your 1st language doesn't change that." Absolutely correct. I am white as white can be. And exactly how often does one's 1st language have shit all to do with the pigmentation of your epidermous? Oh that's right. Never. People of all skin pigmentation learn X, Y, Zed as a 1st language, including none spoken languages like sign ones!! I truly don't need anyone to point that out to me, I am very well aware of this. Now are those that point this out to me aware of that? Or do they enable the ever more ignorant and frustrating questions "where are you from? No but where are you REALLY from??" to anyone who isn't white? Even though that person is speaking with a US/English Canadian accent. Like really... you think I'm the one that needs to be inform of the disconnect between language and skin tone? Who is making the assumption about who speaks what as a first language base on skin tone? Who is denying a connection between language spoken (with which accent) and place of birth? With one's citizenship? With one's "ethnic" background? Or... get your white supremacist fascist label guns ready... who has what culture? As you shot at me, I ask you to tell me this... who's making the disconnect between what is linked and what is not? If you think that a POC who was born in on Turtle Island, has citizenship/residency rights from either/both the US and Canada, speaks English and/or French as a 1st language has (or has parents/ancestors) who changed their last name (and/or issued a white name) deals with the sources/types/frequency of racism as a POC for whom some or none of those things is true, let me assure you, your racist labelling gun is saying more about you than me.
Yes, I know, virtually all POC that are born in this country, are anglophones and hold Canadian citizenship have been told to "go home" and asked "no, but where are you really from?" I've been aware my whole life of how often I'm presumed to be from spot X in white dominated country Y. (Be is born in Québec, France, Belgium, Italy, English Canada) because I "don't have an accent". Do the 2 acts of ignorance/assumption carry the same weight/impact? Do apples and oranges taste the same? Of course not. They are both fruits but their acidity level, vitamin C concentration and just about everything else are dissimilar. But because I've been presumed an apple so often, I have some idea, dear I say better than a unilingual anglophone born and raised on Turtle Island with citizenship from the US or Canada, to the frequency of similar racism. I'm not told to "go home" in this country, I'm told to "go back to Québec." No one's gonna be able to revoke my residency right in this country by privilege of my birth location and that of my parents. Believe it or not, I get that. A whole bunch. But by virtue of my life experience (and sure, fire away for me using "that" vocabulary all you want), I can't remember a time I've asked someone "no, but where are you really from?" Do some immigrants and/or POC ask that question? Yup. I'm sure plenty of white francophones born in English Canada do to. Being of a certain identity (or being viewed as being from one, which is not always happening in unison) does not guaranty awareness of any sort. See: all women who deny systemic sexism has ever impacted their life. See: all the POC who insist racism ain't as bad in Canada as it is in the US. Or the queers who don't understand why some queers don't come out. Or the trannies who are revolted at (deep/functionally) stealth trannies. Or people with different abilities who don't think a workplace should be modified to better accomodate their abilities/bodies. Or the poor(er) people who don't think there's anything wrong with needing to show up dressed in specific type of attire X to get job Y. Or me, when I didn't put an accent on my birthname when I filled out a questionnaire for an anglophone audience. Who still doesn't have any issues with someone calling me by the English version of my names, pronouncing any of my names with English (or other non-French/Italian pronounciation). So long as I have a clue that it's me you're on about, don't matter to me. Not only do I not correct people who call me Matthew, I even occassionally introduce myself as Matthew. Etc. Etc. Happens. Lots. In fact, all the shit I continue to endure because of my multicultural heritage doesn't make me any less racist than I am. It doesn't make me any less white or privileged to speak one of the more privileged languages in this world (and esp. in this country, which gives it special recognition above all 1st Nations tongues.)
This doesn't make it any less racist/ignorant to deny the part citizenship, language, religion, dresscode, culture, place of birth, parents place of birth, parents citizenship, etc. play in systemic racism. It doesn't remove all the privilege that anyone, regardless of skin colour, has if they have a certain 1st language, a certain accent, place of birth, parents place of birth, citizenship, fluency in English (regardless of whether it's your 1st or Nth language), etc.
Yes. I gained privilege as I became more fluent in English. I gained a lot of privilege as I traded accents when speaking English. It's still with me. Will stick with me unless I trade accents again (whether consciously or not, it's not always conscious for anyone). Will stick with me unless I lose fluency in it. (not a likely story, but I've watched my sister's English and accent when speaking it change over the last 7 years and it's shown me this could happen, easier than I previously thought.)
Yes, there is much privilege to be gained by a POC who is or converts to Christianity. No, it doesn't change a damn thing about a person's skin pigmentation. Anymore than my being an atheist makes me any less white. So please, unless I can think of a reasoning that makes sense to contradict this, or you propose one to me, stop telling me I'm denying my white privilege when I explain that white privilege isn't skin deep. No more than racism and xenophobia is. Neither ever were and I don't believe for a moment ever will be in my lifetime. Because "race" is a social construction not a biological phenomenon. Your skin pigmentation doesn't equate to a language, place of birth, citizenship, either for your parents (however many you have), religion, etc. Ask the Joli-Pitt kids. Ask the ones of colour if they speak the language from their place of birth. In a few years, ask the recently born in Nice twins if they speak French. Nevermind as a 1st language. Then tell me they will deal with the same facets of systemic racism as other POC. Oh that's right. The socioeconomic privilege of their parents has already, at least in part, gone on to them and that changes everything, including the way one's "race" is read and understood by others and themselves. And their relationship to global history.
Who said any of this stuff was straight forward? Few of those who have been telling me for the last ~6-8 months that I am adding undue layers not belonging in a dialogue on race. None of whom have defined race, culture, ethnicity, located religion in it, etc. etc.
Lots of racism and xenophobia happens strictly on the basis of skin tone. All the time. I'm not subject to any of it and never will be. I continue to try and raise my awareness of that and of the times I benefit of white supremacy. At no point did I say otherwise. Now, I'd like to ask the white folks who stayed right out of the flamewars I derailled/amplified, to explain to me what it is you still think I'm missing (if anything). And if you weren't a part of it and/or you a POC, I hope it goes without saying typing that you are also welcome to comment. I'm just eager to get those who actively remained quiet for X, Y, Zed reason, thereby exercizing their white privilege, to end that silence if there is something you feel I'm missing out. There's bound to be something. As I have yet to tire to affirm, I am white and I am racist. There will always be more for me to learn and more awareness of my own privilege to raise.
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CBC article that prompted me to write this entry along with recent discussions with friends.
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2008/08/29/bc-vancouver-golf-english.html
Also, from the get go, I want to be clear on where I stand on racism as I understand it. For the last ~6-7 years, I have been of the school thought that by virtue of my whiteness, I am racist. There is no qualifer to my whiteness, I am white. If you are suddendly frightened that I secretly have a white hood in my closet, you are probably equating racism to xenophobia. (Yes, yes, it's true. I'm making a generalization. I do them all the time despite knowing better. Culpa mia.)Homophobia is the fear and/or hatred of queers. Heterosexism is the privilege given to heterosexuality and to straight folks. Misogyny is the hatred of women. Sexism is the belief that male is somehow better/superior/entitled to more value and/or consideration/estime, etc. If you would like me to consider affirmative action based on sex to be "reverse sexism", I encourage you to save your time or risk fellow feminists on my flist to take you to task. Xenophobia is the hatred and/or fear of people of other "races." (I put quotation marks as a visual queue to question what makes up race, why and how, not at all to dismiss the reality of systems based of the various social constructions and their understanding of what is loosely referred to as "race".) Racism is the belief that certain "races" are somehow better/superior/entitled to more value and/or consideration/estime, etc. It is the way that certain "races" are rendered invisible by ommission, suppression, etc. Within the realities of today's world, whiteness is the "race" with the most privilege and power.
Matthew Sheppard was killed by homophobes. The elementary school teacher that refuses to discuss queerness to hir students because they are "too young" to hear/know about it is agist and heterosexist. The 1st Nations left to freeze to death in snowbanks by cops are victims of a racially motivated/xenophobic hate crime. A "Canadian" history course that begins on the date that European colonialists landed on Turtle Island, ommits the diseased infested blankets given to natives, a Canadian school that only teaches French and English (and not any of the 1st Nations languages/dialects) while loathing "immigrants" that don't speak either/both governmentally recognized official languages is racist. _isms and _phobias are connected, the former gone unchecked (whether it is due to lack of awareness or an active choice to be complacent in the face of it by those who are more aware) leads to the later even if it in nearly all cases it is not the same people who did the former committing hate crimes founded in the later. Well intented "but I'm still learning" or "I didn't know" don't reduce one's _ism. Good intentions don't change reality. To give a non anti-oppression example: the people at Maple Leaf didn't mean to kill anyone by not taking every known precaution when cleaning their machines and packaging their products. Their best damage control PR and all the owning up of their fault does not bring those who have died back to life. But they meant well! They had their profits in mind not a desire to kill!
I am white. I continue to do my best to raise my awareness of all the ways I benefit from white supremacy. (if you think my vocabulary is too "radical" ... well ... I'm not going to apologise for using accurate wording, however hard I know it can be to accept its accuracy.) I do my best to lead my own consciousness raising and without it resulting at the unfair cost of POC. Do I always manage? Nope. I'd qualify that but it's the ugly truth, I don't. I keep trying harder, that's all I can do and that's all I can keep doing. If I don't, than my complacency/indifference further contributes to (systemic) racism. My efforts and desires to lead an anti-racist life do not in fact completely dismantle my white privilege and by virtue of continually benefitting from it, it not a likely story that in my lifetime, there is a shot at me becoming fully aware of my white privilege. All the ways in which I benefit whether I am aware of them or not, whether I am able to challenge them or not (because I can't always even though my will is there) is what makes me racist. You can ask virtually anyone who was in my life locally in '02 when I began to realise this and it was anything but an easy process for me to accept this. Do I still struggle here and there? Yup, there's no sugar coating that (because doing so would be racist). That much I'm aware of, and that's not tooting my horn like "OMG someone congratulate me for this much", but due to recent (read: over the last ~6-8 months) questioning of my anti-racist beliefs, I think it is justified within my own journal to lay this out.
The point is, when I say "I'm white ergo I am racist" I am not being sarcastic or buffing my ego of my anti-racism. It is my current understanding that I don't remember that often enough but the more I can admit to it when I am aware, the more I am being explicit in my understanding of systemic racism. I am locating my starting point in anti-racist dialogues utilizing the words according to the definitions I hold of them. If you want to discuss concepts behind definitions, this is fair (to a point) but I hope this helps clarify why it is that I say that sentence and will as often as I do in this post.
A few things have particularly struck me in the bitter exchanges of the last while. 1. All but one or two of the people who have felt able to voice how offended they have been (either by my own actions or how other's actions were addressed, depending on the case) anglophones from Turtle Island (predominantly the USA). Now granted, the demographics of who makes up the majority of the communities I belong to, as well as my flist, make this no surprise. No one that has attempted to have a conversation with me IRL about this has been bilingual/a polyglot. It's mostly been (both IRL and in the virtual world) white folks, but not exclusively. The most vocal WOC who wasn't an anglophone who tried to dialogue with me about this said things that made me question this person's internalized racism and generally sense of logic.
let me give you two examples. I brought up English's position at the global language of business in positioning its general power outside white (numerically) dominated context (i.e. Turtle Island and Europe). To this she replied that she was offended I called English a business language because don't I know that people in India use English all the time to discuss romantic things, leisures, etc. Well now, I'm not disputing her point, I know she's right. But eh... English isn't just used to do business on Turtle Island and Europe either. The qualifier "international language of business" does not mean that this is English's sole usage. Anywhere around the globe. I just... I heard what she said. I agree with it 100%. Unfortunately, it doesn't counter what I said, in the least. The two are not mutually exclusive/contradictory. But it was one of the reasons she called me a white supremacist fascist. Well... there you go. She said in the same e-mail not to bother responding she was done dialoguing with me. I respected her wishes. One of those things I have learnt to do as a white person when discussing "race" with a POC. I must question how much space I take up in the discussion (to be clear, this is not the same as not taking up any space) and question myself if I get a need to get the last word (subtext: at all cost). I didn't with her so it made it easy to read her reply, consider it and then not reply back with where I agreed and where I didn't.
When she brought up the merrits on individual languages, she placed English as significantly less racist in terms of vocabulary, expressions, etc. then any other language. I do not recall if she stated which was her 1st language (I do recall she mentioned being fluent in 5) but this stance and the way she defended it made me stop dead in my tracks. This is up there with informing me English is less sexist than French as a language because nouns don't have genders. "fill 'er up, Jimmy! Ain't she pretty, the car I own? And the house I park it in front of is beautiful. Can you believe that silly immigrant qualified it as handsome?" 0_o Look, grammatically, no, nouns in English don't have genders. But that doesn't change how pronouns referring to nouns are chosen, the adjective used to qualify them are selected, etc. etc. There are reasons certain words are masculin or feminim in French, but property ownership isn't one of them. And projecting one's "sex" unto possessive pronouns (e.g. his, her book) doesn't strike me as gendering an object less than letting the object's gender decide the pronoun (e.g. mon livre, whether the owner of the book is male, female, genderqueer, etc.) I'm not saying French isn't a sexist language, of course it is. But so is English. Just in different ways. Is French racist? Yes. Is English racist? Yes. Am I going to attempt an oppression olympic to figure out which is less racist? Don't be ludicrous. So an assertion either way made me pause big time.
And then there was the blasant statement that adding French as a postable language, was only going to benefit white people because those in Africa who live in former French colonies don't speak French, they speak Créole. And Créole isn't French. 1. I never said Créole was French. I didn't mention it period. 2. Explain to me how it is that the international school at which I did my kindergardeen and elementary years had children of workers from African embassies who spoke French as their 1st language. Did they speak Créole too? Most of them did, but perhaps unsurprisingly, having live their lives overseas, with only their parents and their co-workers as speaking a particular Créole (as there are many), some of them didn't speak any. But regardless, many countries in Africa have French as an official language. Is it due to the (de facto white supremacist/racist) colonialist history? Absolutely, 100%. Is it an all too eerily similarly white supremacist/racist history that lead to countries all around the African continent and the globe that have English as official languages. So... how is English less racist than French again?
Telling someone who does speak X language to speak it without Y accent is racist. When white racists do this on Turtle Island to Latin Americans, South/South-East Asians, non-Anglophones from the African continent, etc. this is considered by most self IDed anti-racist (& allies) as one of the multiple tools of systemic racism. This is in no small part because language is regarded as a key element in someone's ethnicity/culture/race (depends on an individual's definition of each, few people bother to take the time to stop and define any of them for themselves, nevermind to anyone else but often individuals assume everyone's working with the same definition... ah privilege, it's a lovely thing.) How many tales are there of whities (civilians, border controllers, cops, etc.) have been afraid of a Middle Eastern speaking in Arab within Turtle Island or Europe? Ask my 1st roommate at U of T why she hated anyone who spoke any language other than English around her. Her answer? "They must be talking about me." I don't know that I could ever find the words to do justice to the enormity of one's ego to believe this to ALWAYS be the case. If someone's looking/dodging your stare and/or pointing at you, etc. then sure, that is a valid suspicion/understandable conclusion but I'd not otherwise advise considering this esp. if you can't ask to confirm. I'm not the only one who concludes "wow, egotistical ignorant bigot" when that happens.
"But Matt, you're white. Your 1st language doesn't change that." Absolutely correct. I am white as white can be. And exactly how often does one's 1st language have shit all to do with the pigmentation of your epidermous? Oh that's right. Never. People of all skin pigmentation learn X, Y, Zed as a 1st language, including none spoken languages like sign ones!! I truly don't need anyone to point that out to me, I am very well aware of this. Now are those that point this out to me aware of that? Or do they enable the ever more ignorant and frustrating questions "where are you from? No but where are you REALLY from??" to anyone who isn't white? Even though that person is speaking with a US/English Canadian accent. Like really... you think I'm the one that needs to be inform of the disconnect between language and skin tone? Who is making the assumption about who speaks what as a first language base on skin tone? Who is denying a connection between language spoken (with which accent) and place of birth? With one's citizenship? With one's "ethnic" background? Or... get your white supremacist fascist label guns ready... who has what culture? As you shot at me, I ask you to tell me this... who's making the disconnect between what is linked and what is not? If you think that a POC who was born in on Turtle Island, has citizenship/residency rights from either/both the US and Canada, speaks English and/or French as a 1st language has (or has parents/ancestors) who changed their last name (and/or issued a white name) deals with the sources/types/frequency of racism as a POC for whom some or none of those things is true, let me assure you, your racist labelling gun is saying more about you than me.
Yes, I know, virtually all POC that are born in this country, are anglophones and hold Canadian citizenship have been told to "go home" and asked "no, but where are you really from?" I've been aware my whole life of how often I'm presumed to be from spot X in white dominated country Y. (Be is born in Québec, France, Belgium, Italy, English Canada) because I "don't have an accent". Do the 2 acts of ignorance/assumption carry the same weight/impact? Do apples and oranges taste the same? Of course not. They are both fruits but their acidity level, vitamin C concentration and just about everything else are dissimilar. But because I've been presumed an apple so often, I have some idea, dear I say better than a unilingual anglophone born and raised on Turtle Island with citizenship from the US or Canada, to the frequency of similar racism. I'm not told to "go home" in this country, I'm told to "go back to Québec." No one's gonna be able to revoke my residency right in this country by privilege of my birth location and that of my parents. Believe it or not, I get that. A whole bunch. But by virtue of my life experience (and sure, fire away for me using "that" vocabulary all you want), I can't remember a time I've asked someone "no, but where are you really from?" Do some immigrants and/or POC ask that question? Yup. I'm sure plenty of white francophones born in English Canada do to. Being of a certain identity (or being viewed as being from one, which is not always happening in unison) does not guaranty awareness of any sort. See: all women who deny systemic sexism has ever impacted their life. See: all the POC who insist racism ain't as bad in Canada as it is in the US. Or the queers who don't understand why some queers don't come out. Or the trannies who are revolted at (deep/functionally) stealth trannies. Or people with different abilities who don't think a workplace should be modified to better accomodate their abilities/bodies. Or the poor(er) people who don't think there's anything wrong with needing to show up dressed in specific type of attire X to get job Y. Or me, when I didn't put an accent on my birthname when I filled out a questionnaire for an anglophone audience. Who still doesn't have any issues with someone calling me by the English version of my names, pronouncing any of my names with English (or other non-French/Italian pronounciation). So long as I have a clue that it's me you're on about, don't matter to me. Not only do I not correct people who call me Matthew, I even occassionally introduce myself as Matthew. Etc. Etc. Happens. Lots. In fact, all the shit I continue to endure because of my multicultural heritage doesn't make me any less racist than I am. It doesn't make me any less white or privileged to speak one of the more privileged languages in this world (and esp. in this country, which gives it special recognition above all 1st Nations tongues.)
This doesn't make it any less racist/ignorant to deny the part citizenship, language, religion, dresscode, culture, place of birth, parents place of birth, parents citizenship, etc. play in systemic racism. It doesn't remove all the privilege that anyone, regardless of skin colour, has if they have a certain 1st language, a certain accent, place of birth, parents place of birth, citizenship, fluency in English (regardless of whether it's your 1st or Nth language), etc.
Yes. I gained privilege as I became more fluent in English. I gained a lot of privilege as I traded accents when speaking English. It's still with me. Will stick with me unless I trade accents again (whether consciously or not, it's not always conscious for anyone). Will stick with me unless I lose fluency in it. (not a likely story, but I've watched my sister's English and accent when speaking it change over the last 7 years and it's shown me this could happen, easier than I previously thought.)
Yes, there is much privilege to be gained by a POC who is or converts to Christianity. No, it doesn't change a damn thing about a person's skin pigmentation. Anymore than my being an atheist makes me any less white. So please, unless I can think of a reasoning that makes sense to contradict this, or you propose one to me, stop telling me I'm denying my white privilege when I explain that white privilege isn't skin deep. No more than racism and xenophobia is. Neither ever were and I don't believe for a moment ever will be in my lifetime. Because "race" is a social construction not a biological phenomenon. Your skin pigmentation doesn't equate to a language, place of birth, citizenship, either for your parents (however many you have), religion, etc. Ask the Joli-Pitt kids. Ask the ones of colour if they speak the language from their place of birth. In a few years, ask the recently born in Nice twins if they speak French. Nevermind as a 1st language. Then tell me they will deal with the same facets of systemic racism as other POC. Oh that's right. The socioeconomic privilege of their parents has already, at least in part, gone on to them and that changes everything, including the way one's "race" is read and understood by others and themselves. And their relationship to global history.
Who said any of this stuff was straight forward? Few of those who have been telling me for the last ~6-8 months that I am adding undue layers not belonging in a dialogue on race. None of whom have defined race, culture, ethnicity, located religion in it, etc. etc.
Lots of racism and xenophobia happens strictly on the basis of skin tone. All the time. I'm not subject to any of it and never will be. I continue to try and raise my awareness of that and of the times I benefit of white supremacy. At no point did I say otherwise. Now, I'd like to ask the white folks who stayed right out of the flamewars I derailled/amplified, to explain to me what it is you still think I'm missing (if anything). And if you weren't a part of it and/or you a POC, I hope it goes without saying typing that you are also welcome to comment. I'm just eager to get those who actively remained quiet for X, Y, Zed reason, thereby exercizing their white privilege, to end that silence if there is something you feel I'm missing out. There's bound to be something. As I have yet to tire to affirm, I am white and I am racist. There will always be more for me to learn and more awareness of my own privilege to raise.
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CBC article that prompted me to write this entry along with recent discussions with friends.
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2008/08/29/bc-vancouver-golf-english.html