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IBARW 2: Racism in people of color
Tue, Aug. 7th, 2007 02:01 amThis is a post for Intl. Blog Against Racism Week.
My terms, definitions, and disclaimers
I am sure some of you are reading the post title to see if you read it correctly. Yes, I am going to write about racism in POC: that is to say, I am going to write about the racism that POC display toward other POC.
But before I do that, I wanted to add an additional disclaimer: Don't use this post to argue about how POC are racist when the discussion is on white privilege and institutional racism. Don't use it to attempt to drive groups of POC apart by claiming that Asians oppress black people, and therefore the bulk of the attention should be on Asian racists, not white privilege. That is not why I am making this post, and that is not what I believe. Also, even though it's noted in my general disclaimer, I wanted to re-emphasize that I do not speak for all POC! These are my opinions about racism in POC, and I could be miles off target or not even on the right playing field.
The general Racism 101 quote is "racism = prejudice + power," and because POC as a group do not have the power and privilege that white people do, the usual argument is that POC can't be racist. In general, I agree with this. It's a good way to frame the concept of institutional racism, and it's a good way to begin acknowledging that while racial prejudice works against people universally, racism as an institution does not.
( Internalized racism )
( Outwardly-directed racism )
And now my post is entirely too long, and I haven't even touched on intra-POC racism on an international scale. So I will simply say that I do think it is there and that it will probably increase as Asia pulls ahead of other countries in terms of finances and political power (and really, a lot of that is East Asia and India, and the Southeast Asians get marginalized again). But I also think a lot of this occurs against a backdrop of Euro-American power, including fear of that power, envy, resentment, and even a feeling of moral superiority.
So. I don't know. All I do know is that it is far more complicated than simply saying that POC are also racist.
My terms, definitions, and disclaimers
I am sure some of you are reading the post title to see if you read it correctly. Yes, I am going to write about racism in POC: that is to say, I am going to write about the racism that POC display toward other POC.
But before I do that, I wanted to add an additional disclaimer: Don't use this post to argue about how POC are racist when the discussion is on white privilege and institutional racism. Don't use it to attempt to drive groups of POC apart by claiming that Asians oppress black people, and therefore the bulk of the attention should be on Asian racists, not white privilege. That is not why I am making this post, and that is not what I believe. Also, even though it's noted in my general disclaimer, I wanted to re-emphasize that I do not speak for all POC! These are my opinions about racism in POC, and I could be miles off target or not even on the right playing field.
The general Racism 101 quote is "racism = prejudice + power," and because POC as a group do not have the power and privilege that white people do, the usual argument is that POC can't be racist. In general, I agree with this. It's a good way to frame the concept of institutional racism, and it's a good way to begin acknowledging that while racial prejudice works against people universally, racism as an institution does not.
( Internalized racism )
( Outwardly-directed racism )
And now my post is entirely too long, and I haven't even touched on intra-POC racism on an international scale. So I will simply say that I do think it is there and that it will probably increase as Asia pulls ahead of other countries in terms of finances and political power (and really, a lot of that is East Asia and India, and the Southeast Asians get marginalized again). But I also think a lot of this occurs against a backdrop of Euro-American power, including fear of that power, envy, resentment, and even a feeling of moral superiority.
So. I don't know. All I do know is that it is far more complicated than simply saying that POC are also racist.