Yes, all of us.
Dear White People. I'm here to talk about racism and how yes, all white people are racist. I imagine some of you are feeling defensive and angry about that already, and I guess that's normal until you look a little deeper at what racism actually is.
First off, racism is not limited to 'bad people', who vote BNP, support Trump, wear swastikas etc. Racism is prejudice + power. White supremacy is a society that values and promotes whiteness and White people above others.
White people can hold no conscious bad feelings and never behave badly towards people of colour and still be racist.
We all benefit from a million 'invisible' boosts every day, like the supermarket selling products for our hair, plasters that match our skin tone, media that shows us people that look like us, being given the benefit of the doubt, being given the chance to explain ourselves, access to safe medical care, relative safety with police, etc are just a few examples of how being white is a good thing for us, this is white privilege.
This is what we mean when we say we live in a racist society. Everything is set up for White people. White is the default setting.
This is how we are complicit in white supremacy, using these services and boosts without seeing them or challenging them supports and upholds that white supremacy status quo.
We don't see these little 'boosts' because we have always had them, so we can't imagine life without them, that is White privilege.
So when we separate the idea of racism as an individual act and look at it as a society 'setting', we can start to see that actually, yes, it is something that every single one of us benefits from one way or another. Yes, we are all guilty of being racist. Every single one of us.
Until we get to a point where we as a whole society can say we recognise and challenge these injustices every single time, we never laugh at a racist 'joke', we stop fetishising Black bodies, stop appropriating cultures etc, we will all always be racist.
If you can understand the "yes, all men are 🗑️" movement, then you can understand this. It is the same principle. It doesn't mean every individual is 'bad', just that every individual benefits from that system.
SUMMARY:
*All-White presenting people benefit from White privilege
*White privilege exists because of racism
*If you are not actively challenging systemic racism at every level, you are complicit in racism.
*You can be racist and not be a 'bad' person.
I'm going to add some links for further reading.
Please also bear in mind that Facebook and Google both suppress posts and articles with the term 'White people' so Google and Facebook search may not bring up much. That absolutely does not mean that this isn't true.
Written by Becci Taylor, The Punky Family Admin team with inspiration and education from
Ally Henny
Erika Hart
Nova Reid
Akala
Gal-Dem
Afro Punk
Everyday Feminism
Feminism and Decolonisation
Tamela J Gordon
Reni Eddo-Lodge
Roxanne Gay
Ijeoma Oluo
Black Women Lead
Rachel Cargle
https://medium.com/@shewritestolive/all-vvhite-people-are-racist-yes-all-364f9314624
Featured Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash
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We believe in equality, for all women (including trans women) and non-binary people. We believe Black lives matter, there is no ethical consumption under capitalism and that diet talk is toxic.
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We believe in equality, for all women (including trans women) and non-binary people. We believe Black lives matter, there is no ethical consumption under capitalism and that diet talk is toxic.
If you believe that white privilege exists, all bodies are good bodies or that climate change is real, come join our online Facebook community.
