Ironicwarcriminal
Ironicwarcriminal
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http://stuffwhitepeopledo.blogspot.com.au/2010/06/rush-to-aid-of-crying-white-instigators.html
William Ayers recently published a comic book, To Teach: The Journey, In Comics (illustrated by Ryan-Alexander-Tanner). At one point, Ayers pauses to describe the classroom of this teacher, Avi Lessing:
Ayers then describes (and Alexander-Tanner illustrates) the following, relatively common incident, which happens while a white student of Lessing's is presenting a story that takes place at a skating rink.
What happens here is a common form of white solidarity:
It's worth noting that the victim of racism here -- a double victim, actually -- is a black woman. Given the images of black women that commonly lurk in the white imagination, I wouldn't be at all surprised if such white bumblers would be less likely to spark such incidents with their tears if the victim of their actions were another sort of person of color. I think even the tears themselves would be less likely.
In a blog entry on some differences between white women and women like herself, Dr. Renita J. Weems writes of "the vivid memories lots of black women have of white women whose tears promoted their causes over that of the black women":
Many of us, myself included, have stories to tell of white women crying and taking on postures of weakness to avoid conflict with black women. They cried, they shut down, they ran out the room, and feigned helplessness -- especially when confronted with the criticisms black women had about their racism. It’s almost a rule of thumb that senior black women pass along to younger black women to expect white women to faint, get weepy, and come up with stories about their one black friend when the time comes to talk openly and honestly about their complicity in the status quo. Watch for the dagger that follows, I was once told by my own mentor.
Beliefs informed by stereotypes can be so strong that we take them for granted. As black women we know what it is to be saddled with the stereotype of being strong, aggressive, and animalistic in our sexuality. Stereotyping and projecting our worst memories on each other allow both white women and black women to maintain our places in the status quo. It keeps us from finding common ground and from joining forces to battle against the forces bent keeping women sex objects and breeders.
But when is something a stereotype, and when is it true? Not every white woman you and I know has used tears to get her way. Just a lot. Just one too many. Just enough to keep the stereotype alive, I guess.
Yes, this common white tendency -- and I'm sure there are white male versions as well -- is really a way of avoiding conflict, isn't it? And when it's a black woman, a seemingly (O noes!!) Angry Black Woman, then acting as if you're the injured party can seem especially, and ridiculously, prudent. The tears* can function like a false flag, which that loudly signals "Injury!", but also hides fear. I was about to surmise that running away in tears at such moments is also a way of maintaining dignity, but I think what's actually being maintained is a white sense of superiority.
It seems to me that white people who recognize how they're continuously encouraged to be racist by the world around them should prepare themselves for this kind of moment -- a moment in a discussion of racism when someone white suddenly claims that they've been hurt. We should think about how something like a reflex may well lead us to jump to the aid of the perpetrator of racism, instead of helping out or standing by the victim.
I think we should ask ourselves how, instead of expressing solidarity with the white "victim," we could instead express solidarity with the real victim. We should also think about why the latter doesn't immediately feel right. Until it does immediately feel right.
William Ayers recently published a comic book, To Teach: The Journey, In Comics (illustrated by Ryan-Alexander-Tanner). At one point, Ayers pauses to describe the classroom of this teacher, Avi Lessing:
Ayers then describes (and Alexander-Tanner illustrates) the following, relatively common incident, which happens while a white student of Lessing's is presenting a story that takes place at a skating rink.
What happens here is a common form of white solidarity:
It's worth noting that the victim of racism here -- a double victim, actually -- is a black woman. Given the images of black women that commonly lurk in the white imagination, I wouldn't be at all surprised if such white bumblers would be less likely to spark such incidents with their tears if the victim of their actions were another sort of person of color. I think even the tears themselves would be less likely.
In a blog entry on some differences between white women and women like herself, Dr. Renita J. Weems writes of "the vivid memories lots of black women have of white women whose tears promoted their causes over that of the black women":
Many of us, myself included, have stories to tell of white women crying and taking on postures of weakness to avoid conflict with black women. They cried, they shut down, they ran out the room, and feigned helplessness -- especially when confronted with the criticisms black women had about their racism. It’s almost a rule of thumb that senior black women pass along to younger black women to expect white women to faint, get weepy, and come up with stories about their one black friend when the time comes to talk openly and honestly about their complicity in the status quo. Watch for the dagger that follows, I was once told by my own mentor.
Beliefs informed by stereotypes can be so strong that we take them for granted. As black women we know what it is to be saddled with the stereotype of being strong, aggressive, and animalistic in our sexuality. Stereotyping and projecting our worst memories on each other allow both white women and black women to maintain our places in the status quo. It keeps us from finding common ground and from joining forces to battle against the forces bent keeping women sex objects and breeders.
But when is something a stereotype, and when is it true? Not every white woman you and I know has used tears to get her way. Just a lot. Just one too many. Just enough to keep the stereotype alive, I guess.
Yes, this common white tendency -- and I'm sure there are white male versions as well -- is really a way of avoiding conflict, isn't it? And when it's a black woman, a seemingly (O noes!!) Angry Black Woman, then acting as if you're the injured party can seem especially, and ridiculously, prudent. The tears* can function like a false flag, which that loudly signals "Injury!", but also hides fear. I was about to surmise that running away in tears at such moments is also a way of maintaining dignity, but I think what's actually being maintained is a white sense of superiority.
It seems to me that white people who recognize how they're continuously encouraged to be racist by the world around them should prepare themselves for this kind of moment -- a moment in a discussion of racism when someone white suddenly claims that they've been hurt. We should think about how something like a reflex may well lead us to jump to the aid of the perpetrator of racism, instead of helping out or standing by the victim.
I think we should ask ourselves how, instead of expressing solidarity with the white "victim," we could instead express solidarity with the real victim. We should also think about why the latter doesn't immediately feel right. Until it does immediately feel right.
prikryl
prikryl
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Ok
gyrofry
gyrofry
Kurdt
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just cool it with the anti-Semitic remarks
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DrMortezaMohit
DrMortezaMohit
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Goethestein
Goethestein
Nippon
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Ice skates aren't prohibitively expensive.
EmanuelaBrolandi
EmanuelaBrolandi
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no but price isn't the only factor in causing black people to be excluded from 'white' activities and social environments. pools in urban areas are often free or cheap but most inner city black people cant swim
hey
hey
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EmanuelaOrlandi posted:no but price isn't the only factor in causing black people to be excluded from 'white' activities and social environments. pools in urban areas are often free or cheap but most inner city black people cant swim
now THAT is racist
EmanuelaBrolandi
EmanuelaBrolandi
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naw
Ironicwarcriminal
Ironicwarcriminal
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EO is right, way to miss teh point teh Goat
Goethestein
Goethestein
Nippon
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im just saying that chris rock's rationale - my momma couldnt afford no skates - is false.
Goethestein
Goethestein
Nippon
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more to the point of the OP one of my favorite yourtobs of all time was this time norm fiklestein was at some college or another and some white girl in her early 20s got up and was like "it's very offensive for you to compare israel to nazi germany, becuase...because...a lot of us, a lot of us (sobbing) come from families affected by that...!! a bloo bloo bloo" and he just ripped into her for about five mnutes straight. id look it up but im on an old person's computer atm and this thing is worse at internet than the phone i had four years ago
Ironicwarcriminal
Ironicwarcriminal
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your momma couldn't afford no skates
EmanuelaBrolandi
EmanuelaBrolandi
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Ironicwarcriminal
Ironicwarcriminal
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Superabound
Superabound
Not Your S.H.I.E.L.D.
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seeing tears in your opponents eyes is just natures way of letting you know youve won
Ironicwarcriminal
Ironicwarcriminal
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holy shit it's suprabound
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Ironicwarcriminal
Ironicwarcriminal
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i just read about bill ayers and two things surprised me
a) that he could have mainstream participation in civic political life after the 60s and 70s and
b) he wasn't jewish
a) that he could have mainstream participation in civic political life after the 60s and 70s and
b) he wasn't jewish
gyrofry
gyrofry
Kurdt
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Goethestein posted:more to the point of the OP one of my favorite yourtobs of all time was this time norm fiklestein was at some college or another and some white girl in her early 20s got up and was like "it's very offensive for you to compare israel to nazi germany, becuase...because...a lot of us, a lot of us (sobbing) come from families affected by that...!! a bloo bloo bloo" and he just ripped into her for about five mnutes straight. id look it up but im on an old person's computer atm and this thing is worse at internet than the phone i had four years ago
agreed
Superabound
Superabound
Not Your S.H.I.E.L.D.
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discipline posted:* I like the name that Ayers gave to the crying white girl -- "Misty." What Misty does in that cartoon, of course, is a classic form of a white pathology, widely known as White Women's Tears.
"It's a pun." --William "Puttin' On" Ayers
Keven
Keven
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I honestly doubt theres anything worse on planet earth than a white woman. Thats why myself and most INTELLIGENT posters (goat stein, ridii ww, mccaine) shun white women for asians.
Goethestein
Goethestein
Nippon
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white people are the worst people, therefore by transitive property white women are the worst women. that's just math, you cant argue with it
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jools
jools
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I'll fuck it and suck it today!
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drwhat
drwhat
mt.real
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we didn't have a lot of money and so i never asked for ice skates because i'm pretty sure they would have been like $200, but if i had asked mom probably could have scraped it together, so it would be disingenuous to say my momma couldn't afford no ice skates, but it would have been a poor allocation of resources. i'm white. thank you for your time
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getfiscal
getfiscal
Mike Nelson here.
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once i had some money i earned from a paper route. so i got excited and went to Toys R Us in order to buy a certain handheld video game thing. then when i got there i realized i didn't really care much about the game, or buying anything really, so i burst into tears at the sinking anxious feeling. possible date for beginning of my journey as a depressed economist.
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getfiscal
getfiscal
Mike Nelson here.
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it was something like this
EmanuelaBrolandi
EmanuelaBrolandi
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paper route... that game thingy.. canada... so this was, what 98? 2000?
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getfiscal
getfiscal
Mike Nelson here.
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EmanuelaOrlandi posted:paper route... that game thingy.. canada... so this was, what 98? 2000?
probably like 1991 or so
AmericanNazbro
AmericanNazbro
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tpaine posted:yeah, you were better off. those tiger electronics games wwere ass :avgn: son of a...ass!!
