PSA: Racist images are NOT ironic.
Apr. 28th, 2008 07:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
unusualmusic_lj_archiveAnd so the circle turns, linking Marcottegate to Seal Press, you know, the same Seal Press whose rude and utterly BS invasion of Black Amazon's Blog seems to have set off an all around falling of the dominoes. So, 2 days ago, Radfem, in reactions to Jill's post on Feministe in which she endorsed Marcotte's new book (published by Seal Press) pointed out that there were some rather racist pics in Ms. Marcotte's new book. The clusterfuck blew up exponentially. Then the evidence dropped, as someone posted the pics. Maia at Alas, A Blog had this to say: I don’t just want to say ‘these pictures are racist and racism is bad’, but to talk about the harm that these sorts of images cause, because the racist ideas that they maintain are very specific. They are presenting indigenous people as a dangerous other. They are presented as things that must be conquered so that white people can live freely on their land. The idea represented in these images are one of the many ways colonialism is maintained and justified.
I live in a country where land has been stolen from indigenous people in the last five years. Amanda Marcotte lives, and Seal Press operates, in a country where the history of stealing land from indigenous people stretches back five centuries. We all live in a world where the distribution of wealth was established, and justified, by colonialism. The white woman, and man, in those pictures were stealing land and resources - everything Africa had that they could use (a century earlier, of course, they would have also been stealing people). Which was all kinds of awesome and hit the nail on the head with a vengeance.
Well, this was the last straw for WOC blogger Black Amazon, who decided to shutter her blog and renounce the feminist movement: I think the point where I went fuck it , is when a law student, a couple writers, and a professor basically endorsed a book and MISSED in reading something they were ATTACHING their names to.
Racist comics, about MY PEOPLE. Yeah MY PEOPLE, being KILLED and destroyed to save a white man and give a white woman the “courage” she so desperately desires .
And people fell over themselves to excuse them . Cause they’re learning
You know what , fuck off.
Hey it’s no expectation you be responsible and careful with what you endorse, write and publish, because it’s a ” friend” right.
They get the be nefit of the doubts, the benefit of not having to be called on their evil racist condescending crap.
My friends while your protecting your friends are completely disrespected and it’s okay right.
Indeed.
So, finally, after this and tons of other posts detailing the absoluteness of the clusterfuck that this had become (scroll down for the linkfest), the covering of asses began.
Jill apologised. Ms. Marcotte apologised. Seal Press apologized.
Alright. So they have apologised and everything is alright now, right? Its just a one-off thing anyway so dear WOC of colour, do some forgiving and forgetting right? ANd besides, fuck it, race is NOT a feminist issue! All those jealous meanie WOC need to shut up and MOVE ON, they are so sensitive, one issue and they blow it up like its the end of the world!
Ah, no. It WASN'T just ONE issue. And bear in mind that 1. this is a small sampling, and 2. clusterfucks like this have been going on since that fucking Seneca Falls Convention. Large outcries have elicited grudging apologies and insincere cries for us all to come together. So WOC do. And the shit in a different coloured pail lands on our heads again! The problem is while all the white feminists are yelling that WOC need to be race-neutral and identify as women first, as Latoya points out:Our discrimination is not race neutral.
...
Some feminists can discuss women being viewed as weaker and less capable, never realizing that some of us are not ever allowed to hold that label. I’ve never been called “weaker” in my life. The stereotype that comes with black women is that we are supposed to be unbreakingly strong. Unceasingly capable. We are not supposed to be weak.
I have never been asked to fetch coffee. Never. Does that mean sexist shit doesn’t happen to me at work? No. But that sexism is informed by my race, so instead of assuming this cute young woman should sit prettily in the corner and make coffee, they assume that this name “Latoya Peterson” will manifest into some neck-swiveling straight from the ‘hood stereotype. The white girl being relegated to the coffee machine still has a job. My resume is in the recycle bin.
And while I can truly understand if some women feel that their gender problems take more prominence than their race problems, other women need to understand that for some of us, that separation does not happen. And what bothers me most about a lot of feminist discourse is that while it may claim to speak for all women, it leaves out crucial parts of the dialogue because it refuses to engage with these other issues.
Exactly so. So what now? Sudy asks some very insightful and tough questions in an attempt to cut through the BS: And so, with that fundamental difference of online feminism, where DO we go from here? Wait for another conference, agree to go and see if we can be in one room without killing each other? Have a radical carnival that features not just rwoc or just white fems? Wait till everything dies down and then move forward when the next explosion occurs? Blame the patriarchy? Take a nap?
...
If Stanton, Anthony, and even Friedan were reading the feminist blogosphere, would they apologize for their racist comments? Were they even aware that their agenda was racist? What is the difference between the agenda of the first "documented" US feminists and the feminist identified womyn today, minus the "waves" description?
And my personal favourite:
Why do I feel more hardened than softened by feminism? If the point was to work for equality, then I assume that means that I would learn to better perceive others as equal and work through my own prejudices and obstacles...It'd make sense that that would soften me. Instead, the roadblocks with the people who are supposedly "feminists" have angered me to the point of being a rigid rock wall rather than a rich ground of soil for grrls to learn from and grow. What happened there?
I think that last question speaks for a lot of WOC, including me, who came to feminism believing in the airy promises of sisterhood, only to be rocked back on our heels repeatedly by the BS pulled by many of the white leaders of the movement. Hell, at this moment Feminism and racism go hand-in-hand is a conclusion that many WOC feminists have reached, and so many of them are abandoning ship and moving on to lend their voices to other movements. SO if divided we stand and united we fall, what in the world will this continued attrition mean for the feminist movement as a whole? What can we do to break out of the cycle of "Be an asshole, compound your error by refusing to apologize unless forced to, issue insincere apology and urge us all to forget and move on, rinse and repeat?" What can we do to effect substantial change to the movement, so that these incidents will be minimized and eventually done away with?
A couple of suggestions : Accepting Kyriachy, NOT apologies and, specifically for Seal Press: Why Seal Press is off the syllabus Part 2 There are more. But this is a start. Now, the eternal question...are you listening? Better yet actually, will you change?
I live in a country where land has been stolen from indigenous people in the last five years. Amanda Marcotte lives, and Seal Press operates, in a country where the history of stealing land from indigenous people stretches back five centuries. We all live in a world where the distribution of wealth was established, and justified, by colonialism. The white woman, and man, in those pictures were stealing land and resources - everything Africa had that they could use (a century earlier, of course, they would have also been stealing people). Which was all kinds of awesome and hit the nail on the head with a vengeance.
Well, this was the last straw for WOC blogger Black Amazon, who decided to shutter her blog and renounce the feminist movement: I think the point where I went fuck it , is when a law student, a couple writers, and a professor basically endorsed a book and MISSED in reading something they were ATTACHING their names to.
Racist comics, about MY PEOPLE. Yeah MY PEOPLE, being KILLED and destroyed to save a white man and give a white woman the “courage” she so desperately desires .
And people fell over themselves to excuse them . Cause they’re learning
You know what , fuck off.
Hey it’s no expectation you be responsible and careful with what you endorse, write and publish, because it’s a ” friend” right.
They get the be nefit of the doubts, the benefit of not having to be called on their evil racist condescending crap.
My friends while your protecting your friends are completely disrespected and it’s okay right.
Indeed.
So, finally, after this and tons of other posts detailing the absoluteness of the clusterfuck that this had become (scroll down for the linkfest), the covering of asses began.
Jill apologised. Ms. Marcotte apologised. Seal Press apologized.
Alright. So they have apologised and everything is alright now, right? Its just a one-off thing anyway so dear WOC of colour, do some forgiving and forgetting right? ANd besides, fuck it, race is NOT a feminist issue! All those jealous meanie WOC need to shut up and MOVE ON, they are so sensitive, one issue and they blow it up like its the end of the world!
Ah, no. It WASN'T just ONE issue. And bear in mind that 1. this is a small sampling, and 2. clusterfucks like this have been going on since that fucking Seneca Falls Convention. Large outcries have elicited grudging apologies and insincere cries for us all to come together. So WOC do. And the shit in a different coloured pail lands on our heads again! The problem is while all the white feminists are yelling that WOC need to be race-neutral and identify as women first, as Latoya points out:Our discrimination is not race neutral.
...
Some feminists can discuss women being viewed as weaker and less capable, never realizing that some of us are not ever allowed to hold that label. I’ve never been called “weaker” in my life. The stereotype that comes with black women is that we are supposed to be unbreakingly strong. Unceasingly capable. We are not supposed to be weak.
I have never been asked to fetch coffee. Never. Does that mean sexist shit doesn’t happen to me at work? No. But that sexism is informed by my race, so instead of assuming this cute young woman should sit prettily in the corner and make coffee, they assume that this name “Latoya Peterson” will manifest into some neck-swiveling straight from the ‘hood stereotype. The white girl being relegated to the coffee machine still has a job. My resume is in the recycle bin.
And while I can truly understand if some women feel that their gender problems take more prominence than their race problems, other women need to understand that for some of us, that separation does not happen. And what bothers me most about a lot of feminist discourse is that while it may claim to speak for all women, it leaves out crucial parts of the dialogue because it refuses to engage with these other issues.
Exactly so. So what now? Sudy asks some very insightful and tough questions in an attempt to cut through the BS: And so, with that fundamental difference of online feminism, where DO we go from here? Wait for another conference, agree to go and see if we can be in one room without killing each other? Have a radical carnival that features not just rwoc or just white fems? Wait till everything dies down and then move forward when the next explosion occurs? Blame the patriarchy? Take a nap?
...
If Stanton, Anthony, and even Friedan were reading the feminist blogosphere, would they apologize for their racist comments? Were they even aware that their agenda was racist? What is the difference between the agenda of the first "documented" US feminists and the feminist identified womyn today, minus the "waves" description?
And my personal favourite:
Why do I feel more hardened than softened by feminism? If the point was to work for equality, then I assume that means that I would learn to better perceive others as equal and work through my own prejudices and obstacles...It'd make sense that that would soften me. Instead, the roadblocks with the people who are supposedly "feminists" have angered me to the point of being a rigid rock wall rather than a rich ground of soil for grrls to learn from and grow. What happened there?
I think that last question speaks for a lot of WOC, including me, who came to feminism believing in the airy promises of sisterhood, only to be rocked back on our heels repeatedly by the BS pulled by many of the white leaders of the movement. Hell, at this moment Feminism and racism go hand-in-hand is a conclusion that many WOC feminists have reached, and so many of them are abandoning ship and moving on to lend their voices to other movements. SO if divided we stand and united we fall, what in the world will this continued attrition mean for the feminist movement as a whole? What can we do to break out of the cycle of "Be an asshole, compound your error by refusing to apologize unless forced to, issue insincere apology and urge us all to forget and move on, rinse and repeat?" What can we do to effect substantial change to the movement, so that these incidents will be minimized and eventually done away with?
A couple of suggestions : Accepting Kyriachy, NOT apologies and, specifically for Seal Press: Why Seal Press is off the syllabus Part 2 There are more. But this is a start. Now, the eternal question...are you listening? Better yet actually, will you change?
