Language and Oppresive Dynamics in Voices Windward

I wonder how many white people are aliented from social change because there corrolate the terms racism with racial abuse…and no one bothered to simply state that a common usage of “racism” is to comment on the social inbalance and dynamic of oppresion we are going through rather than “an act of abuse based on race” or don’t think that white people should be treated as a collective entity because of America history.

I wonder how many black comrades have spent time isolating and negating a white comrade becuase they belive whether they are born with a privlege set (in their environment) doesn’t dictact whether abuse they face based on that race is deemed racism or not.

When we say “you can’t be racist to white people” or that “it’s only racial discrimination” as a “lesser” term, we’re dismissing the hatred and pain brought to a great many communities at the hands of other races.

The White/Black-POC binary might work in referance to the relationships between certain communites, it may even be useful as a banner call and defacto response.

Racism is a most powerful term and we should not remove it from Nepalese abused by Chinese, or Koreans being isolated in Japan, from Albanians, Polish, Lithuanians and so on…

This idea that race is the only determination of whether you are privleged or oppressed or not is falacious and harmful. I understand it’s banner call and it’s importance and in our modern day with our history the awareness of the dynamic between white communities and black ones is extremely important.

I just don’t believe a crass simplifaction of such a potent word, with a American centric attitude helps the world much.

This idea falls even further when people build a heirachy of race.

Dynamics of oppression, visualise it....It ain’t a ladder, it’s a web,there are many avenuses and there are many more factors than race alone I’m sorry that doesn’t make for a quick conversation.

Additionally I’ll admit the resentment in the implication that you don’t feel that the term Racism should mean this singular thing absolutly then you are blind or wilfully indulgent in and to the dynamics of oppression along racial lines in the modern world.

At best “Racism” has multiple definitions and it’s usage depends on context and intended meaning.

but I would say this wouldn’t I, I’m white.... oh I don’t know…

To me it feels akin to negating the problem of calling 15 year olds whiney toffs because there is a problem of calling 15 year olds chavvy paupers.

Clearly these things arn’t equal as social issues, but individual matters and social matters need to be handled differantly and just because the poor have huge problems doesn’t mean the children of the rich don’t have problems or that their problems don’t matter and it’s the same for male/female cis/queer.

I’d be interested if anyone thought that sexism had the additional definition that it can only exist men > woman and that it was impossible to be sexist to a man…?