cross-posted from: https://beehaw.org/post/17772988
A helpful guide on how to be less frustrating towards people of color.
I didn’t say treat all people equally. What I say is don’t treat people differently just because of the colour of their skin.
There are nice people and there are arsehole people, that applies to every skin colour. But you must not make a pre-selection based on skin colour.
Just treat people with respect, regardless of their skin colour, and don’t put up with arseholes.
Yes, I agree that this is important and should be standard behavior. I was criticizing you saying “there is only one way” and then only looking at the individual level. My point is that this isn’t sufficient, people have to consider and dismantle discrimination on a structural level or we won’t get rid of it. The article discusses discrimination on an individual and also structural level. You seemingly disagreed saying that the only way is to not treat people differently. Like I said, this won’t be sufficient and is only scratching the surface.
Generally yes but specifically no. It takes more than that to offset the racism built into the system. Since the article was written from a US perspective I’ll talk from that point of view, but the same is true in other countries (In the UK, Black women are 3x more likely to die in childbirth than white women, a symptom of this concept there).
In the US, the system we live in is quite literally built on racism. From the founding document when compromises regarding slavery were baked into the way we vote, to our criminal system which rose from the ashes of reconstruction after our civil war, our foundation is racism. Our government is alternatingly unwilling or incapable of correcting these wrongs, so the onus is on individuals to do so.
Being a good person is the first step, but beyond that is lending a hand to dismantle the structures where we can, and many of the 100 things listed in the article. This isn’t “oh sweetie bless your heart” this is “I’ll show up and fight for you.”
