Goddamn, that was racist.

[hackthis_archive]

I want to start this post by saying a) I do not participate in Supernatural fandom b) I am a black person c) I have not read the story that started this week's Race Fail Brouhaha -- and let's be honest, it is only TWF (This Week's Fail, because that's just how this works). But I did read the informative post made by bossymarmalade. And trust me. That was plenty.

I have also read subsequent posts both on my reading list and in the (very) wide fandom universe. Some have made me so blind with rage I've had to go outside. And some, like this one from tevere and the one she linked to by facetofcathy have made me go, "Thank you, ladies, you are better people than I, because mostly I think 'The more things change, the more nothing changes what. so. ever.'"

And I say all this to say:

I am a Person of Color. I am not your Racism Police.

Nor is any other Person of Color your Racism Police.

We were not put here to tell you when you are being a racist asshole. We are not here to be the back drop for your great romance. We are not a fucking background. We are PEOPLE. We are born, we live, we love, we die. We bleed just the same as any. body. else.

Just because you may not encounter a PoC in your daily life does not mean we are tiny people living in your TV that only start dancing around for your entertainment.

People of Color are not here for your entertainment.

We are not here to be your plot points or to be your One Minority Friend That Proves That You Are Totally. Not. A. Racist.

We are not birds. We are not exotic.

Our cultures. Not exotic.

So every time you ask to touch our hair because it looks different, or rub our skin as though the color might come off; and every time you ask what extraction we are, where our parents are from (implying that we obviously are "not from around here") or say we're pretty since we're mixed;

Every time you think, "These people are so *other* from me they must need a good white person to save them," -- and you know who you are (especially you, Hollywood) -- you are being a racist dick.

Point of fact, however, you don't have to be white to be racist. Anybody can be a racist. In fact, every time there's one of these Race Fail Tempests you inevitably get people asking, "Well, how am I supposed to know when I'm being racist?"

If you have to ask if you are being a racist, do I have to finish the rest of this sentence?

We are not small-eyed, thick-accented, Spanglish speaking or dark-skinned just to give you something to talk about. To give you something to compare yourself to and find yourself superior. We are not here for your artistic merit.

I don't care if your feelings are hurt today, I will still be a Person of Color tomorrow.

And yet, this still isn't going to change anything. It never changes anything. And why does it never change anything? Because people are making this into a theoretical discussion when it's not. These are people. Real fucking people. And these things really happened. And they caused a lot of fucking tragedy. The earthquakes? They happened. Colonialism? It happened. Blood diamonds. They happen. The wiping out of entire cultures by a bunch of greedy explorers. War in the name of oil or minerals (heads up, Afghanistan), the new land or spices or genocide. That shit happened. It keeps happening. It was not made up by six white guys in a air-conditioned office on the Warner Brothers back lot in Burbank drinking Diet Coke.

These things are happening now. And they will keep on happening. And just because they haven't happened to you in particular does not make them any less true, any less valid, or there to be exploited just for your amusement.


So I'm going to save the rest of my breath to cool my porridge and let Dave Chappelle say it best, because truly, "you ever have something happen that was so racist, that you didn't even get mad, you were just like, DAMN, that was racist."

Comments

[ricochet]

I've never been so glad to be out of a fandom in my life.

Beyond the shallow relief of that though, Hell Fucking Yes to the rest of what you said. So much yes. It's not-- I can't even...

It's not that I don't understand how this happens, 'cause I do. But I can never get my voice to work around this issue, I end up too angry and too hurt sometimes to make words. So thank you for your eloquence.

If it's not too huge an imposition, may I use a quote from this in an icon? Full credit to you for where it comes from of course. 'Cause there's another head on this hydra I can't avoid anymore, and I'm going to be partially incoherent, but um, I think it might help me keep talking to have

"We are not birds. We are not exotic.

Our cultures. Not exotic."

in the corner of the screen while I try to form sentences.

Not that any of that means you should let me use your words if you don't want to.

Again, thank you for posting this. (Also, the Dave Chappelle clip is awesome even as it's awful.)

[hackthis.livejournal.com]

a) If an icon will make you feel better, make 50. Help yourself. :)

b) One of the things I've always appreciated about Dave Chappelle's stand-up work is that he tells it like it is. Really and truly and people laugh, but they laugh because you have to, because you know what he's saying is true. And sad. And devastating. I was never a fan of his TV show, but one of the reasons he said he stopped doing the show is because he felt that white people were laughing, but they weren't getting the point. The racism stuff he was talking about was true and they were just glossing it over because to them it was just comedy. Racism is not comedy.