determined
janetmiles directed my attention to a large fuss about racism, which has boiled all over LiveJournal and beyond. A summary of the instigation and ensuing mayhem is here. I meant to explore the whole situation thoroughly, I really did. But all I could think was, "This is a stupid argument. This is a textbook example of how not to talk about race issues. This is a waste of my time." I just couldn't see any good coming out of it, and substantial harm already has -- feelings hurt, journals closed, and dire threats flung by people who really should have a firmer grip on their professional bearing. So after about ten minutes, I quit reading and went off to do other things.I woke up with this idea fizzing in my brain. I am a writer, a reviewer, an editor, a teacher. I am going to do something totally different.
For those who need it, here are some basic resources about race issues. I'm taking a turn at "Racism 101" because brown-skinned folks get tired of it.
"Racism - Introduction" (This is the first in an extensive series of essays on race relations, including some matched pro/con pairs.)
Race, Racism, and the Law (from a law school)
"Racism - Getting to Basics" (from a blog about Middle Eastern sociopolitical meltdowns and fallout)
How to Help Stop Racism (from the Stop Hate website)
Teaching Tolerance (extensive resources for parents, teachers, teens, and children)
These are some of my favorite "canon" poets of color:
Alice Walker
Basho
Langston Hughes
Leslie Marmon Silko
Lorna Dee Cervantes
Paula Gunn Allen
Phillis Wheatley
Robert Hayden
Rumi
Zora Neale Hurston
These are some poets of color on Poetry Blog Rankings:
Antonio G. Fernandez
Janeya
Jon Sanders
Jy Obadele
Kamil
These are some of my favorite writers whose ethnic background and experience has influenced their work:
Booker T. Washington
browngirlFrederick Douglass
Gloria Anzaldua
haikujaguarJohn (Fire) Lame Deer
Joy Harjo
Octavia Butler
Sandra Cisneros
Sequoya
Sojourner Truth
These are some talented ethnic artists:
Aaron Douglas
Claude Clark
haikujaguarHayao Miyazaki
Katsushika Hokusai
Kevin Red Star
Marcos Pavon Estrada
Ruben Manuel Guerra
therebirthofmeWilliam Barak
Me and You
The anthology Triangulations: Taking Flight contains one of my short stories in which all of the characters have brown skin; "Peacock Hour" takes place in the Whispering Sands desert. newWitch magazine (issue #15) published my short story "Peaches from the Tree of Heaven," which is not about racism, but rather about Chinese and Chinese-American cultures and family planning. Click the "poem" tag in the right sidebar for poetry examples; I've posted a variety of those on this blog. If people wish to discuss how well (or poorly) I presented ethnic characters and concepts, that's welcome as long as it stays civil and you can support your arguments with citations from the text. Quality feedback aids targeting.
If you are a writer or artist of color, and I haven't already listed you, and you would like to present your work to an audience rich in smart sensible people who like literature and artwork -- send me a link. If I get more than a few in replies here, I can pull them into a separate post later.
I disapprove of racism wholeheartedly. I've experienced a few incidents of it directed at me. I did not like it. I would not want to be stuck with it every day. I do not want anyone else to be stuck with it either. Racism is a disgraceful waste of human potential based on an atavistic instinct that is unseemly in sentient beings. This is what the Universe wanted me to do about it today. I've been working on this post for about two hours. This feels like time well spent.
Hmm...
February 3 2009, 03:38:41 UTC 12 years ago
>> I especially don't understand what is the point of trying to attack racism by accusing of it everyone who isn't black and tries talking about it in any context whatsoever. <<
That's actually one of the more obscure supports of racism. Let's see if I can describe the dynamics ...
Racism at this stage is mostly very subtle, like a deep river that will drown you by not letting you swim out of it, rather than a white-water river that will beat you to death against rocks. Fair-skinned people are more likely to enjoy privileges because of their genetics, and less likely to be aware of the how the system benefits them and harms others. It is as if the deep swift river brings them fish, and they cannot see the people in the middle quietly drowning. When someone points out that the river is killing people, all they know is that the river brings them fish, because they've never been out in the middle of the deadly current. Maybe they've waded or paddled along shore, where it's safe and the eddies are minor. So they say the current isn't dangerous or doesn't exist, because that fits their experience -- and the people who have exhausted themselves swimming in deep water, and watched people drown, are upset by the dismissal of their experience. So then the people get angry and frustrated at each other, and they yell, and they storm away hating each other all the more. And the river runs on, so smooth on the surface, so wide and deep, so deadly and so full of fish. It is the same river, and it runs through all our lives, but we do not experience it in the same way -- because some of us are born on the banks, while others are dropped into the deep water.
Did that make any sense?
Re: Hmm...
February 3 2009, 06:09:49 UTC 12 years ago
It seems like such a small thing, to invite people to your party instead of excluding them, but sometimes small things have big effects.
Re: Hmm...
February 3 2009, 06:16:34 UTC 12 years ago
Now that is a fascinating idea. I find it plausible. Thing is, we'd need more than a sample of one to test this.
I remember another effective strategy -- making yourself really useful. Early on, Chinese men won acceptance on the frontiers by doing laundry. There were almost no women, the European men didn't have domestic skills, and the Chinese immigrants had a different cultural perspective that didn't give them hangups about washing clothes for a living. So it kind of became a cliche, but it's also fairly well established that this helped smooth their way into society.
Re: Hmm...
February 3 2009, 06:29:16 UTC 12 years ago
But it might also be that the invitations on St. Patrick's Day were more an example of a larger difference in attitude or culture, perhaps having to do with the importance of celebration--I'm thinking of things like Finnegan's Wake, here--that led to not espousing that particular attitude in daily life; if the invitations on St. Patrick's day were an extension (not an aberration) of normal behavior, then a lot of interpersonal dynamics were different.