A tiny, tiny mini-rant

[sami]

I just came across someone complaining about the Racism 101 comm on LJ being "moderated by white women".

Same person complains about the universality with which non-white folks are granted superior authority in matters of race, by the way.

The thing is this:

Racism 101 is basic shit. That's the whole point. You do not need Authentic Non-White People to run it, to give their Brown Seal of Approval to things. Moreover, expecting non-white people to busy themselves with watching over the education of clueless white people is dear God what is wrong with you people anyway?

Think of it like this: a non-white person has a Ph.D. in Racism And Associated Crap. They may also, in fact, be wrong about some things. They may, in fact, be a fucking moron who needs to be smacked in the head with a chair. However, the discussion of their stupid-ass wrongness is not one a high schooler who's read, like, one primer on Racism And Associated Crap is going to be able to enter without being annoying and even more wrong. Odds are that if you think they're stupid and wrong, you just don't understand what they're talking about.

A Clueless White Person is someone who's in, like, year ten. Thinks they know everything, actually knows jack. If this were science, we're talking about someone who may possibly have a decent understanding of Newtonian physics and elementary geometry, but thinks relativity is e = mc² because that's the Einstein thing, right?

Racism 101 does not need people with a Ph.D. in Racism And Associated Crap. It needs high school teachers. People who can teach Newtonian physics and don't find it aggravatingly basic and a painfully reductionist approximation of reality. This is the kind of crap that Somewhat Clueful White People can handle. And should.

Non-white people can get involved if they choose. Some people do teach high school even though they have a Ph.D. Sometimes because that's what they really want to do. But expecting Racism 101 to be taught by non-white people so you can have a more Authentic Experience in your Very Special Learning is, in fact, a branch of fail all its own.

Non-white people/people of colour are not required to teach you. They have no obligation or reason to hold your hand and walk you gently through the mists of your own ignorance to the bright sunny dawn of Clue. And you are probably the five hundredth person to ask them to do so.

If I'm getting irritated by the recurring cycle of "Teach me! Teach me! YOU have to explain stuff to me or it's YOUR FAULT if I'M RACIST", it is way, way past the point of seriously uncool.

Comments

[maevele]

and i was pretty sure it was deliberately attempting to make it a space where white folk take responsibility for educating other yts on the shit that PoC have had to say too many damn times already.

[willow]

Oh, the cries of the mewling infants, demanding nappy changes to the all new anti-racism cloth diapers that somehow eat poop.

[fifi]

Didn't you know that Racist & Victims of Racism are partners in an Educational Program? The first lesson is called "If You Want Me to Stop Being Racist Let Me Climb On Yr Back, Negrito, so I can Piggy-Back My Way Into Racism 101 and Show you all the Way of being showing the other Cheek or Both Cheeks, Depending." Long ass title, I know. They're wordy.

[sqbr]

Wow, I've been meaning to write EXACTLY this post for ages.

Of course, I do have a Phd, so for me the metaphor comes more literally from realising that the extreme annoyance I got from strangers assuming that the fact that I had the knowledge to explain difficult maths problems to them meant I had an obligation to do so (For free. Whenever was convenient to them(*)) was like a teeny niggle compared to how POC must feel. Since people not understanding group theory doesn't actually cause me or anyone else any real harm. Any time I find myself thinking "But this race stuff is hard! Why won't someone explain it to me?" I think "Sophie, you are being like those annoying 3P3 students only much worse" and I am suitably chastened.

(nb in case it's not clear: I am TOTALLY not saying that maths ignorance=racism. Because no. It just helped me understand racism better)

(*)Though none of them said "Well then my lack of understanding of maths is YOUR FAULT".

[smillaraaq.livejournal.com]

Non-white people/people of colour are not required to teach you. They have no obligation or reason to hold your hand and walk you gently through the mists of your own ignorance to the bright sunny dawn of Clue. And you are probably the five hundredth person to ask them to do so.

And if you insist on flaunting your privileged sense of entitlement by demanding free education anyway, well, don't be surprised if the lesson you get isn't the one you asked for. Getting firm, unbudging "NO"s and being subjected to scathing mockery are teaching moments too!

[piscinarii]

So well freaking said.

[elf]

I would have some sympathy for the "PoC should teach me about racism" argument, if I didn't *always* see it in the middle of, or immediately after, a swarm of links discussing various aspects of racism.

It's not just "PoC should teach white people," which concept has some validity. On our own, there's some aspects we just can't figure out; the problem with blind spots is that you don't see them. But it's not like there's any shortage of PoC who've decided to spend their energy educating whitefolks; it's not like we lack videos and blog posts and funny-but-touching cartoons and sarcastic bingo cards and careful analyses of every point on those cards.

I don't have a problem with "I should be learning about racism from the people most affected by it." The problem kicks in with, "...and this one right here in front of me, in my journal, is the one who should teach me." Because that's usually tied into "I don't want to read stuff from strangers, because they might not be nice to me and tell me I'm basically a good person even if I have some skeevy race issues. In fact, I don't want to think I have any skeevy race issues; I want someone to tell me I just need to polish my vocabulary a little bit and then I'll be wonderful & enlightened."

Racism 101 does not need people with a Ph.D. in Racism And Associated Crap. It needs high school teachers.

I'll posit it needs middle school teachers... people who are willing to go over the same basic shit, again and again, even with the same students who obviously weren't paying attention the first time. "Teachers" who know that they're sliding over some of the nuances because those are too subtle to be recognized, who have to keep saying, "oh, and there's more, and we can discuss that when you're ready for it."

High school students are presumed to have some competence in their subjects; middle school students are still absorbing the idea "this is a subject worthy of study."