Racebending.com

May 15, 2013 • 3,016 notes • racialicious.com

As unbelievable as [White Dude Super Detective (WDSD)] characters are, they would become infinitely more so if their race or gender were changed. In The Mentalist, WDSD Patrick Jane once grifted clients as a fake psychic, but now works as a hard-to-control resource for the California Bureau of Investigations. What if the Jane character were a Latino ex-grifter? Would his arrogance and propensity for sneaking into suspect’s homes and accusing wealthy businessmen of impropriety read as quirky and charming? Would anyone believe that a police force would allow such behavior? Could the Scotland Yard of fantasy be down with a coke-addicted black Sherlock—no matter how clever?

The San Francisco police department abides Adrian Monk’s obsessive-compulsive disorder, as the FBI allows Perception’s Dr. Daniel Pierce to assist on cases, despite his unmedicated schizophrenia and paranoia, which results in hallucinations. Could a black woman be cast in those roles to the same effect? I submit, that even in the fictional worlds of literature and television, race and gender matter. Belief can only be suspended so far. And this archetype is reliant on power that comes with white maleness in American society.

Tamara Winfrey Harris | Privilege And The White Dude Super-Detective (via trollny-stark)

#i still remember bossymarmalade and glockgal’s deconstruction of white privilege in supernatural #and how dean and sam worked so well #because no one ever questioned white dudes #even when they were sketchy as fuck #and then glockgal drew racebent spn comics #where sam and dean really had to work to be able to be hunters #because they couldn’t just get away with fake IDs now that they weren’t white anymore #it was so amazing #i would’ve watched THAT show forever

(via ave-atque-vale)

This. This. And This.

(via bana05)

(via aragingquiet)

January 13, 2013 • 127 notes • teeveegetsme

The Real Winner of the 2013 Golden Globes: Funny, Awkward Girls EVERYWHERE!

teeveegetsme:

CONGRATULATIONS, LADIES! THERE’S A PLACE FOR ALL OF US!

Where the definition of “girls” is extremely narrow and means cis, able-bodied, straight-passing, white, middle class and up, etc. etc.

Where “all of us” means “some of us.”

December 31, 2012 • 734 notes • feminishblog

feminishblog:

Please understand when someone says you have privilege - whether it be because of your race, gender, etc., understand they are not saying they claim to know you and understand your life. They are not saying you have lived an easy life. They are not saying you were born with a silver spoon or found one along the way.

What they are saying is that you were born with something, something that others were not. You were born with an advantage that for the time being, is still inherent and institutionalized.

What they are saying is listen, because as a result of that privilege, there are some things you can’t learn unless you do exactly that - listen.

So I implore you: Open you eyes. Close your mouth. Fill your ears, and consequentially, your heart and mind.

Paging Avatar Korra…

December 11, 2012 • 109 notes

Questions to be used for racial identity exploration

How do I deﬁne myself racially?

When did I ﬁrst become aware of race/skin color in general, and mine in particular?

What messages did I learn about race?

What direct and indirect messages did I receive about race/skin color from my family and friends throughout my childhood? Adulthood?

How did the messages that I received about race/skin color affect how I thought and felt about myself racially? Others?

What beneﬁts did I gain because of my race/skin color?

What did I lose because of my race/skin color?

Have I ever dated cross-racially? Why or why not?

How many friends of a different race do I have?

An integral component of developing racial awareness and sensitivity involves undergoing an in-depth exploration of one’s own racial identity. Before one can fully appreciate how race shapes reality, it is necessary to understand one’s self as a racial being.

This can be a challenging and at times painful process. However, confronting what it means to be ‘‘this’’ or ‘‘that’’ provides the most intimate and concrete example of the ways in which race shapes reality…

…The process of racial self-exploration is essential to achieving racial sensitivity in particular. Most often, the greatest barrier to racial sensitivity stems from a deep sense of anxiety that individuals possess about themselves as racial beings.

For example, white people often are uncomfortable talking about race and racism in mixed-race company because they fear they will say something racist. Many whites say they ‘‘fear the reactions of black people.’’ However, whites only fear this possibility to the extent to which they unconsciously fear the parts of themselves that are racist. Individuals who understand and are resolved about their racial identity, are comfortable discussing race and racism because they do not live in fear of discovering and/or exposing parts of themselves which they or others would ﬁnd objectionable.

Excerpt from ”Uncommon Strategies for a Common Problem: Addressing Racism in Family Therapy” (2000) in Family Process Vol 39:1 by Laszloffy and Hardy.

October 31, 2012 • 1,428 notes • casual-isms

casual-isms:

Since this recently submitted question is so fresh and innovative, I’ve decided to give it a little bit of my time.

(Among others) Why you cannot “appreciate” my culture:

When white people take it, they take the aspects of it that they like. These are the aspects people were mocked and hurt for sporting - but when white people choose to adopt this, it becomes correct to do, and “cool.’ This is suggesting that the opinion of a white person on the culture is somehow better than that of the original member of the culture. This upholds white supremacy.

White people do not fully appreciate the culture, ever. They only take the aspects they like. As a result of this, the nuances of the culture is lost, resulting in erasure of the culture. This is particularly problematic for cultures with rapidly diminishing amounts of people.

White people do not adopt the culture right, but frequently adopt a version that they see. This is not what the culture really is and propagates racist stereotypes. It frequently tells the story of a blatantly false caricature.

In adopting the aspects of the culture that you want, the depiction of the culture is frequently sexualized.

Simultaneously, when you take a part of the culture for your own, it erases the lived experiences of the group that upholds a custom and the struggles and hardship that the group went through. Thus, it diminishes the history of the group and causes for further erasure of experiences.

When customs translate into a Western context, very frequently a price tag is put on them - or they are commodified. This is a problem especially for spiritual practices that hold deep significance for those who practice it, and is blatantly disrespectful to these communities.

What is the collective factor that is wrong with this all? When you appropriate culture, you are treating the holder of the culture less important than your whim to use it. You are treating people of color and people who come from a non-Western cultural context as less than human.

Need even more proof?

Here are my choice links.

(note that I am using West as an indication of the cultural unit of the West and Western Thought, not as the geographical region.)

So why can’t we be brothers and sisters?!

Slavery.

Colonization.

Ethnic cleansing.

Genocide.

Systemic Oppression.

Erasure of our role in history and our presence in the world today.

…but really, this list is endless. For more, check this out. And this. And any of the rest of the White History Month posts.

*OK BUT THAT WAS A LONG TIME AGO!

No. Because we still face the effects of this and you’re still not listening. We can engage in universal siblinghood when we don’t feel like we’re less legitimate people because of the colors of our skins and the *mystical* practices we engage in.

You wouldn’t discriminate someone born with a penis for dressing like a “girl” in any sense.

I couldn’t discriminate against white people who were appropriating culture even if I wanted to. You wanna know why? White people have privilege. We don’t have any rights except in our own spaces, sometimes not even then.

And as for the rest of that sentence? No, it’s not the same thing. There is no inherent insult in cross dressing. There is extreme inherent insult in cultural appropriation and it would be wise to see the difference. Do not appropriate the struggles of other groups of peoples to prove your point and dehumanize them.

But other people steal white culture all the time!!

Let’s start at the very beginning.

Not all people are equal. White people have privilege.

And when ‘we steal your culture,’ that’s actually not what we’re doing. Let’s have some examples, specifically about clothes, but also about pretty much anything else I can think of.

We’re trying to adjust to a world where whiteness is the norm. Because white people are able to tell the world what is ‘normal’ and they have defined, say, tshirts and jeans from Hollister as ‘normal.’ We wear it to be normal, not to appropriate ‘white culture.’

We wear it because colonialism and other movements that caused for white people to rule us forced us to adhere to their standards for many generations. We wear it because we’ve been systematically forced to.

We wear it because we think it’s pretty - we wear it because the standards of beauty today are white.

We wear it because we will be harassed by white people and told to go home if we don’t. It doesn’t matter if it is our home. The only way to be American or of the West is to dress in accordance to Western culture.

We wear it because we will be harassed by our own people if we don’t. We wear it to not be the worst kind of person there is - a FOB. We wear it because of our own internalized whiteness, internalized after many many centuries of it being forced onto us.

So to end this, nah, I’m not the racist one.

-NSC

An additional perspective on this issue

September 4, 2012 • 850 notes • brashblacknonbeliever

Prisonnier numéro XXXIV: Pro-Tip: Being called racist is not the worst thing anyone can call you.

tumbl-down:

scarsofhonor:

thinkspeakstress:

brashblacknonbeliever:

Trust me on this one white people. I can think of a list of things off the top of my head that are way worse than being called racist.

It’s much worse to be called colored while having an elderly white woman pat you on the head like you’re a…

^I agree. It also sucks when you get called a racist, and you’re just as appalled by everything that was listed as— Well I guess you can’t be just as appalled, as you were never called it, but you’re mad as shit.

Can I tell you how many times the name Emmet Till has made me need to hold back tears? I don’t need to read the story— just hear or read or even think the name. And you know what I think? That poor little boy.

Not because I am trying to call him ‘boy’ or pity him or downplay him, but because in all seriousness he was a little boy. He was a little boy who had no one to save him, and when children get hurt or killed, I don’t care how far back in history, I get a little more than angry. I think that poor little boy, because a little boy was killed and not just killed but brutally killed.

Not to mention, it makes me sick that I get lumped into the group of scary racists who beat him to death just because I am Caucasian.

There are tons of people, caucasion people, who hear your plight. There are tons of amazing caucasion advocates.

So yeah, it really hurts me when I get called a racist or something. Am I guilty of falling into a stereotype or not liking some typical stereotypes and yadda yadda? Yeah, I think we all are. Everyone is still working on pulling themselves out of this hateful mindset. So yeah, it hurts to get called that. And no, probably not as much as being called ‘boy’ or what have you, but please do not downplay my pain when I am not downplaying yours.

Hi, fellow white person, I can tell from your post you need to be collected. This means your white privilege has led you to believe you should enter a post made by a PoC discussing racism and try to make it about you and your whiteness. This is not helpful, rather it is harmful.

If you are actually interested in resisting racism, you need to understand how your comment actually supports racial oppression. If you refuse to try to understand this, you are merely indulging a self-serving, but false, image of yourself as ‘not racist’.

Ok, so this is tumblr. Most people on here are not guilty of violent hate crimes. When someone on tumblr says you are racist, or that you said something racist, they don’t mean you are a violent murderer, they mean you expressed a sentiment or opinion that supports systematic racial oppression. Privileging white opinions and feelings- no matter the context- supports racial oppression and is therefore racist. Insisting on the relevance of the white POV is racist. Yes, your comment is indicative of a racist attitude! I realize it may be too subtle to make you cry or even for you to notice. This doesn’t mean it isn’t real or really harmful.

Look, I get it- you thought the fight against racism would be obvious, with clearly drawn lines between good and evil, and that you could firmly place yourself on the good side. I used to think that too. But that’s not how it really is. As white people, we are all implicated. We are complicit when we benefit from being white, when we don’t notice that benefit, when we refuse to acknowledge it, when we do nothing about it.

A PoC said “trust me on this white people” and you didn’t. You still thought you knew better. This is the crux. We white people cannot really understand what it feels like to experience racism. We have to trust the voices of PoC when they speak of their experience. If we do not choose to grant this trust (and yes, we are in the position of power where we can choose to grant it or not) we cannot help resist racism but instead will only preserve it. Refusing to grant that trust and insisting you know something the PoC doesn’t (in this case- how much being called racist hurts) is an attempt to silence their voice. Here’s the thing- your pain is not relevant. The pain we as white people feel at being called out is the pain of privilege eroding. It is the pain of losing something we never earned in the first place. It is, at worst, the pain of our own false self-image being deflated. It is in no way comparable to the pain of oppression, of being treated as subhuman.

For white people the question isn’t, “Are you racist?” The question is, “Every day, are you a little bit less than the day before?”

If you have any questions/comments please feel free to direct them to my ask box.

August 7, 2012 • 5,096 notes • makos-lightningrod

jazzpha:

masayume85:

awakeningeden:

writingfail:

savagelee:

atlaairbendingrules:

savagelee:

But if all she loves about herself is her bending and not anything else …

Sometimes I just feel like I’m watching an entirely different show from everyone else. *sighs*

I don’t get how Mike/Bryan can say that your abilities should determine your self worth and that if you lose them you aren’t/shouldn’t love yourself anymore.

Really, it would’ve been wonderful if Korra had cried herself out and then thought- hey, but I’m still the Avatar. I can still help people. And then maybe they cut to a few months later and they show her meditating and understanding herself and helping people and then she meets Aang and restores bending if that had to happen. :-/

I agree. I wish they could’ve shown that people are more than their bending, especially since her rash actions have hinged on her being able to throw power around.

Bryke

just

omg.

what. the. hell.

That is a terrible way to view people. I’m not one to say this usually…but, Bryke? Your privilege is showing.

I’m glad I’m not the only one who saw this flying around and thought, “WTF?” Basically this just proves that Korra only sees herself through her bending and that’s a problem. By just giving her back her bending at the end she learned nothing. Way to fail at story writing Bryke :/ Yes, to love others you have to love yourself, but come on, this is not the way to express that.

Yet another reason why I think Amon should have stolen her Bending at the end of Episode 4, and Episodes 5-10 should have been about Korra learning that her Bending wasn’t the Alpha and Omega of her existence.

Alas. Bitching fight scenes and love triangles are more important.

(via tumbl-down)

June 25, 2012 • 651 notes • atla-annotated

rairii:

gringatalquina:

atla-annotated:

writingfail:

atla-annotated:

The Missing Plot: Amon’s Platform

Why do thousands of people join him, civilians take up arms for his cause, what is the fodder that incites this civil war?

All we get in 12 episodes is that the non-benders feel oppressed, but we never get a concrete example, but for after the fact when Tarrlok starts rounding up Equalist supporters.

The thing is that the oppression was shown but never pointed out. For example, pro-bending is a bender-only sport, working in the factory seems to require firebending, to be a cop you must be an earthbender, and there is no one to represent the non-benders in the council. The non-benders are underprivileged because they get less access to jobs and political positions, yet the show refused to point out any of these things because Korra was too stubborn to see things outside of her privileged position. It’s even worse that Korra gets handed everything and doesn’t once question why and how she is seen as special compared to everybody else, especially non-benders.

So the Equalists saw all this just… nobody was there to point that out to Korra or the audience. In the end, everything fell flat.

1. Pro-bending is not oppression. I am 5’2, I am not oppressed by professional basketball players.

2. There are non-benders on the police-force e.g. the cop in the park that chases Korra and Gommu

3. There are non-benders on the council: Sokka

4. Factory workers: Are you saying that Sato, one of the major employers in the city, does not hire non-benders? Same goes for cabbage corp.

5. Even though these are examples, we have no proof that Amon uses any of this to gain followers, which is my point.

I disagree.

1. Probending may not be a form of opression per say, but it does inform the public’s collective imagining of bending; bending is glorified and celebrated, implying that those who can bend are worth more than those who can’t. Also, pro-bending is a job that non-benders don’t have access to; Mako and Bolin might still be on the street if it weren’t for pro-bending.

2. There may be non-benders in lower ranks, but as far as we can tell the high-ranking officers (i.e. those who fight alongside Lin) are metalbenders. Non-benders have less access to better jobs.

3. There were non-benders on the Council. In Korra’s time, Tarrlock makes it clear the all of the Council-members are benders, so non-benders have no political representation whatsoever. So, not only are they at a socioeconomic disadvantage, but there is no one in the government trying to help fix the societal oppresion of non-benders.

4. Non-benders do have access to jobs that aren’t bender-specific, but so do benders. Therefore, non-benders are competing with benders for jobs in a society that seems to think that benders are inherently better. And benders have a huge advantage because their job market is much broader.

5. Then there are the Bending Triads. Non-benders are less able to defend themselves against these gangs. Furthermore, they act as a refuge for impoverished benders that is inaccessible to non-benders; again, Bolin and Mako might non have survived if they weren’t benders.

So yeah, there are some benders who are poor despite their privilege (Bolin, Mako, and the inhabitants of Gommu’s tent city) and some non-benders are rich despite their societal disadvantage (Hiroshi Sato and Cabbage Man Jr). Still, their societal structure is clearly oppressive to non-benders. However, the only oppression Korra recognizes is Tarrlock’s insane power-trip. Coming from an uber-priveleged, sheltered environment, she has no idea how complex the problem truly is. Therefore, she’ll probably be shocked to discover that the Equalist movement didn’t die with Amon, as will most benders. (Though I do hope that Book 2 will show that there were some benders who were Equalists as well.)

Granted, none of this was explicitly stated, because the show was almost exclusively composed of action sequences, dramatic revelations, romantic subplots, and punch lines. Still, to me, the Equalist movement made a lot of sense, and I certainly hope it ultimately leads to tangible reform.

^ This. But they should have done a lot more to make this more obvious and for Korra to realize this and actually bring harmony and equality as the Avatar.

Also, to your tags, I could analyze the heck out of all the implied systems set in place and draw parallels to currently existing institutions.

Also, a whole paper on why Mako is being a jerk.

The twisted part of all of this is that at the very end, non-benders as a group were just pawns used to further the ambitions of just another bender. They lose out the most from this Avatar vs. Amon fight. Now, when non-benders voice legitimate grievances about social institutions that reflect inequalities in society, they can be dismissed or even persecuted simply if benders conflate them with the discredited Equalist movement.

We never saw Korra reflecting on why Amon was able to successfully use the inequities faced by non-benders as an effective strategy to build a base of followers, or to consider that there might be legitimate reasons why people would speak out about their experiences as non-benders.

March 18, 2012 • 7 notes

Q

You mention Legend of Korra tackling privilege and oppression head on - that there is a discussion on it already. Where would one find this discussion? I'm so interested...

chaosthethird-deactivated201205

A

A lot of it is in the Korra tag and based off of intial reactions to the first episode of Legend of Korra that was screened to the press.

(In the tag, there’s also the added dimension of a subset of fandom continuing to argue that the show consists of fantasy races unaffected by real-life contexts, and the calling out of fan art of Korra depicting her with light skin instead of brown skin. The convergence of real-life privilege and privilege as depicted in the animated series world is amazing…it’s great to see A:TLA thinking critically about the series in this way—if anything, because trying to get other fandoms to do it is like pulling teeth.)

Overthinking It’s most recent article on A:TLA (and comments) might be worth a read, too: Use and Abuse of Power in Avatar: The Last Airbender