# Call to Action-Racism



## *Erin* (Mar 18, 2002)

ok, mdc mamas & papas! let's brainstorm to define and explain racism and white privilege, with the goal being to construct a page of information that can be used to educate, and enlighten.
This thread is an arm of MDC Mamas Fighting Isms
Any links, articles, information, and advice is welcome here! If you feel the need to question the existance of white privilege, please feel free to start another thread, this thread is not the place to argue!


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## Arduinna (May 30, 2002)

Erin, you might want to put Call to Action in your thread title. We usually use that as a designator that the thread is for brainstorming or supporting a cause and NOT debating it's worth.


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## *Erin* (Mar 18, 2002)

gotcha! doing it right now...


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## pugmadmama (Dec 11, 2003)

*White Privledge: Unpacking the Invisable Knapsack* by Peggy McIntosh is an aboslute must-read.

It was helpful for me, as a caucasian women, to read Peggy McIntosh's article inconjunction with *The Male Privledge Checklist**:An Unabashed Imitation of an Article by Peggy McIntosh* by B. Deutsch


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## *Erin* (Mar 18, 2002)

thanks for posting that, pugmadmama, it def. is!!


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## *Erin* (Mar 18, 2002)

this site has got one the most in-depth unlearning resource centers i've seen on the web, i've learned so much from it-
SOAW-links


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## *Erin* (Mar 18, 2002)

white privilege, a social relation
1. a. A right, advantage, or immunity granted to or enjoyed by white persons beyond the common advantage of all others; an exemption in many particular cases from certain burdens or liabilities.
b. A special advantage or benefit of white persons; with reference to divine dispensations, natural advantages, gifts of fortune, genetic endowments, social relations, etc.
2. A privileged position; the possession of an advantage white persons enjoy over non-white persons.
3. a. The special right or immunity attaching to white persons as a social relation; prerogative.
b. display of white privilege, a social expression of a white person or persons demanding to be treated as a member or members of the socially privileged class.
4. a. To invest white persons with a privilege or privileges; to grant to white persons a particular right or immunity; to benefit or favor specially white persons; to invest white persons with special honorable distinctions.
b. To avail oneself of a privilege owing to one as a white person.
5. To authorize or license of white person or persons what is forbidden or wrong for non-whites; to justify, excuse.
6. To give to white persons special freedom or immunity from some liability or burden to which non-white persons are subject; to exempt.

this is kendall clark's definition, if we arent going to be allowed to quote other people in order for this (and other ism threads) to become a sticky, does anyone have any ideas on how we can say this another way?


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## Arduinna (May 30, 2002)

ok, so how is it expressed here at MDC?

How are people during their participations in dicussions at MDC accepting or taking advantage of white priviledge?

edited to add: that I think that we can see how it happens IRL, but since we have no way of knowing anyones race on a message board unless they share it, how are posters taking advantage of it?


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## Mothra (Jun 4, 2002)

http://www.whiteprivilege.com/

I don't have a lot of time to get into this now, but I am very happy to see this thread and wanted to post another resource.


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## *Erin* (Mar 18, 2002)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Mothra*
http://www.whiteprivilege.com/

I don't have a lot of time to get into this now, but I am very happy to see this thread and wanted to post another resource.









that's kendall clark's site

i've been thinking about this thread all day, and the conclusion i've come to is that you can't have a discussion about privilege without discussing racism alongside it-white privilege is hand in hand with institutionalized racism. what would you think, arduinna, and mothra, pugmadmama, kama, mahkdokht, and all the other mamas who are working on this, what would you think about changing this discussion to a discussion on racism (and along with it-white privilege)?

"How are people during their participations in dicussions at MDC accepting or taking advantage of white priviledge?"

that's a pretty broad (but good) question!!!
i can't say right now, i'll have to give that some thought.
"that I think that we can see how it happens IRL"
yes i think you can, and i can, and some of the rest of mdc can, but a lot of mamas here cannot, which is why we need a...primer on what it is, yk?


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## menudo (May 21, 2002)

Good luck. I have seen this discussion close other boards. I hope many here are adults and can handle this topic w/o taking it to the many so different extremes it can be taken too. I admit many people can't handle the truth, it is scary. Institutionalized racism has come up in several of my recent posts/threads. I would also like another thread discussing the fact that race itself is a myth...


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## Arduinna (May 30, 2002)

well here is one thread where we discussed it last year it's in the archives

http://mothering.com/discussions/showthread.php?t=86469

not the least but worried it will "close the boards"


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## *Erin* (Mar 18, 2002)

no it won't close the boards









i'm gonna change the topic, if there aren't any objections.


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## JessicaS (Nov 18, 2001)

If you want a different topic why not just make a new thread?

People who come in later will have difficulties discussing the intitial topic.


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## Rainbow (Nov 19, 2001)

Oh don't worry... with the supervision around here we'd all be banned before any boards closed :LOL


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## *Erin* (Mar 18, 2002)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Rainbow*
Oh don't worry... with the supervision around here we'd all be banned before any boards closed :LOL

:LOL
mmmmhmmm!

arduinna, we haven't really gotten the conversation off the ground yet, and i explained that since white privilege IS racism, and the whole topic of racism is so intrinsic to the discussion of it, i thought it'd be more productive if we went ahead and just made the conversation all about both issues. can't have one without the other, ykwim???


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## menudo (May 21, 2002)

lil...I don't fear it will close the boards, just sharing 2 actual expeirences!! MDC is different from those boards, they got so judgemental about anything anyone MAY consider offensive, there was no more learning (or unlearning a they say) or discussing, just supposed "white" people saying 'I am so sorry I am an oppressor, please help me repent." It was weird!

My unvaxed vs. undervaxed thread is waking some people up to insitutionalized racism, isms, and white privilege too...


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## TiredX2 (Jan 7, 2002)

:


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## sadie_sabot (Dec 17, 2002)

I live and work with some folks involved with the Challenging White Supremacy Workshops; I'll try to find links to some of their definitions. One I remember is about racism- that racism equals race prejudice plus power. What that means is that race prejudice on it's own, which can be felt by people of any race against people of any other race, is different when the people with the prejudice have POWER over the people they are prejudiced against.

Anyway, I'll try to find links to some of their stuff; might take me awhile, I am behind at work and feeling so disheartened by the world that I'm moving kind of slow.


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## sadie_sabot (Dec 17, 2002)

Something I just thought of, and apologies if this is redundant...I'm in mental slo-mo right now.

to understand white supremacy (the systemic version, not the neonazi skinhead/david duke etc version) it's important to understand how white supremacy has played out in the history of this country. It is so much more than the african slave trade. Who was allowed to vote, and when? who was allowed to own land, and when? Who's land is this, anyway, and how did we end up with it?

So often if we white folks take a look back a cuple of generations, somewhere in our history, someone benefitted and made gains sioleley due to whiteness. And that's not to say our forbears didn't work hard, they did! (mostly) But the african slaves worked hard too.

anyway, I may not be making sense and may come back with another attempt later. But I'm glad to see this going on.

Oh and by the way, I read a reference to a racism/classism thread? where is it?????


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## *Erin* (Mar 18, 2002)

i've just had one the greatest days with my dd; i'm totally sapped too. i was writing about racism in my head as i was falling asleep last night. i'm gonna try to gear up with some coffee, and make a coherant and useful post in a little bit...i'm so glad the thread's still moving, i hadn't gotten any email notifications for it since yesterday, no time to actually check in (other thread also) and i was really thinking it was dead. nice that it's not.


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## mahdokht (Dec 2, 2002)

O.k, now I'm confused, should we be working from this thread or the one in Finding Your Tribe?


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## mahdokht (Dec 2, 2002)

O.k, now I'm confused, should we be working from this thread or the one in Finding Your Tribe?


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## *Erin* (Mar 18, 2002)

mahdokht, i was thinking, perhaps precipitously, that we might use this thread to discuss racism and white privilege, and create other threads to discuss anti-semitism, ablism, agism, fatphobia, heterosexism... so that we could focus directly on the issues we'd like to create learning lists on, without all the repitition, and confusion and head-banging that is happening (and that you're responding to beautifully, and with much more patience and intelligence that i could muster, may i add) on the other thread. i had bedtime hell last night w/ my dd and couldnt get back here to do anything until just now (she's asleep after a huuuuuuge full day, hopefully, will stay asleep long enough for me to pour a cup of coffee and turn my brainpower back on!) . i figured that's what we were going to do to get together some sort of list, divide up onto seperate threads. i hope i didnt put the cart before the horse by starting this!


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## annakiss (Apr 4, 2003)

Okay, well let's get started! Do we want to work on forming a sticky here? Are we to focuse then on racism/white privilege for the sticky in this thread? Or are we merely to discuss racism and white privilege? If so, should we identify how institutionalized racism comes up in language use (in general, not in MDC posts)? So then, how does it? What words or phrases do we use that show this? And not just explicit racism, but white privilege.
One thing that always bites my biscuit is the use of the statement, "I'm not a racist." To declare that one is not a racist is usually followed by some racist comment. There's usually a "but" when I hear this spoken IRL. People also (IRL) have the mistaken belief that racism is only towards black people, and not towards all people of color. So then it's okay to be racist against people of Middle Eastern descent, but not African Americans. So what kind of language would we prefer to be used here? Are those "politically correct" terms that are intended to imply sensativity really so sensative? Or do they make a further point of dividing? Is it okay to say black person? Is it preferable to say African American (even though a black person may not in fact be African or American)? Am I now the one putting the cart before the horse?


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## IdentityCrisisMama (May 12, 2003)

I've been following all the threads on the "-isms". I'm interested this also. May I suggest beginning with a definition of what exactly you mean by racism beyond power + privilege?

I wonder what issues fall under the category of racism? I know there was an issue of whether or not anti-Semitism should be included under racism. Which marginalized groups are included? Who is a POC?

I guess the confusion issue is that there isn't a very solid definition of race that I know of.

I think that would be a really good start because then you can get all the people who have experience with the included groups involved.


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## purplegirl (Apr 5, 2004)

Erin, you totally rock and I appreciate you!
Lisa


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## IdentityCrisisMama (May 12, 2003)

Link:

http://www.saxakali.com/CommunityLinkups/racism.htm

on closer look this site seems anti-Isael. There is some interesting stuff there though. Hope it doesn't offend anyone.


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## mahdokht (Dec 2, 2002)

ok erin. great idea!


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## girlndocs (Mar 12, 2004)

Are we still brainstorming for ways white privilege manifests here, on the boards?

Unless someone has an "ethnic" name or uses "ethnic" idioms, I assume they're white.







And of course that means if someone DOES have an "ethnic" name or uses "ethnic" idioms, I assume they're POC.








T Actually, that use of "ethnic" is one of my pet peeves. Norwegian is an ethnicity. Celtic is an ethnicity. French is an ethnicity.

Anyone ever done that "fill in the blank" quiz? The one where as fast as you can, you supply the last word in sentences like, "Mexicans are ..." "Asians are ..." "Whites are ..."

Can be very revealing. Very.


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## *Erin* (Mar 18, 2002)

http://www.mothering.com/discussions...d.php?t=146382

veganmama's started this thread-ya'll come on over







?


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## IdentityCrisisMama (May 12, 2003)

I would love to be more involved in this project but I'm quite "blocked" with thoughts going in all directions. I've been having a hard time with the exclusively "racial" aspect of thinking about racism and trying to figure out who and what is included in fighting racism. I'm not trying it work that problem out here but I did want to let you know that I started a thread (for myself) on defining race. I just wanted to let you know incase some relevant issues to your mission get brought up there:

http://www.mothering.com/discussions...d.php?t=146154


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## IdentityCrisisMama (May 12, 2003)

A HUGE resource on racism (follow the links around - they seem to cover almost everything - in 14 different languages!):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racism


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## *Erin* (Mar 18, 2002)

icm, i checked out that link, looks like it may have some promise, but some parts of it arent done yet! namely, the one on privilege. and it has a bit of a slant to it that i can't put my finger on. or maybe it's just that it's 4 am and i need sleep.


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## *Erin* (Mar 18, 2002)

oh yea! icm! i meant to thank you for starting the thread on race-really interesting discussion.


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## IdentityCrisisMama (May 12, 2003)

Yea, the defining race thread isn't getting much attention but I do think it's relevant to this discussion.

I love that website,

No, they don't really have a section on "White Privilege" but they do have something called "White Guilt" that they discuss.

Just a warning - I really like that site and am very impressed with the content and the format BUT, DH is more familiar with it and says to be careful with it and double check facts and opinions and stuff - like with anything, I guess.

I'm still reading. That site even has some breakdowns of slurs:

"Many people argue that "white trash" is a racist term displaying prejudice against whites. Some people argue that "white trash" is racist, not because it includes the word "white", but because it implies that trashiness is the normal state for black people and thus when a white person is trashy it must be specified that the person is white."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_trash

Off topic, what time is it? Go to bed, LOL!


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## *Erin* (Mar 18, 2002)

"Just a warning - I really like that site and am very impressed with the content and the format BUT, DH is more familiar with it and says to be careful with it and double check facts and opinions and stuff - like with anything, I guess. "

i think i commented on the race thread about that. but since i usually do most of my posts after 1 am, oy,i don't remember!
i picked up a vibe about some of the stuff-some things that were a bit skewed. there's so much information out there online, it's hard to really know for sure until you dig your heels into any given site and really check it out!


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