IBARW 2!

[oyceter]

Guess what? It's almost time for Intl. Blog Against Racism Week again!

Yes, I am making this a yearly thing.

Since it started around mid-July last year, I want to keep it around the same time. But since my birthday is in late July, and I am entirely selfish and really don't want to be dealing with potential race-related stupidity around my birthday, I am making the first full week of August officially the week of IBARW.

So that's August 6 to August 12!

This year, I want to a) read through all of last year's entries and pick my favs, b) blog more about POC reactions to racism (internalized, denial, acknowledgment, anger, etc.) without having it turn into "But POC are racist too OMG WOE!", c) actually do something about the "international" part, and d) continue to post about it the rest of the year too.

What Can I Do?

Well! I'm glad you asked! (or, uh, didn't, but whatever, I'll pretend that people did.)

1. First, I'd love volunteers to be Icon-Makers of the Revolution!
   
   I made some icons last year, which are still up for grabs, and I will make more this year. But I am singularly uncreative and am running out of icon ideas, and my icon skills are passable but really not the best. Also, for people who want customized personal icons or whatnot, it'd be nice to have more icon-makers to go to.



2. Second, I need a Record-Keeper of the Revolution!
   
   You'll be compiling all IBARW posts during the week, like rilina did last year in the handy link compilation. I think mostly people comment with a link to theirs, so you don't have to search all over the internet to find things. The link compilation will include all posts for IBARW, including sporktastic ones, though I encourage people to create their own recommended posts lists too!
   
   
   • Alternately... since IBARW generated over 200 posts last year, I think it'd also be cool if there were a Programmer of the Revolution who wrote up a link-compiling program that would have people input the link, title, poster, time posted, and summary of their posts and spit out a handy-dandy list. I think I do have webspace for something like this, although I'd need to re-investigate, as I have completely forgotten what I can do with it.



3. Thirdly, post!! If you're a white person and don't want to take attention away from POC bloggers, I respect that a lot. But if you still want to contribute without taking attention away, you can also post links to posts POC have made as well, or drive traffic, or search for IBARW links that people may have missed.

And while I'm asking for things, I so want an Anti-Racism 101 blog a la Finally, a Feminism 101 Blog. I would very much contribute and possibly even be able to create the blog, but I don't think I have the time to post to it often. Maybe I will think about just compiling links and whatnot for the FAQs section or something. Hrm...

Thoughts? Questions? Bueller?

Comments

(frozen) (no subject)

[oyceter]

Well, I'd argue back about communities being all white -- I'm not saying that they aren't, but I'm saying that that is not a good reason to say that racism doesn't exist in that community, because it is ignoring a lot of larger issues. For example, the smaller number of POC in the UK has to do with immigration policies that up till the 1970s or so greatly restricted the immigration of POC by means of grandfather-type clauses. And I think a great part of it has to do with the fact that Britain went out and colonized other countries during the 1700s and 1800, as opposed to bringing the colonized back in (though of course there were a few cases).

This is all from quick Googling, so I'm probably missing a ton of the shades of grey, but by and large, I don't think people can just say that the UK has fewer POC and therefore less racism, as racism seems to have played a large part in the number of POC in the country in the first place. It also looks like immigration is a big issue, unsurprisingly with a focus on the immigration of POC.

ut in summary, by saying that 'gentrification or white flight or whatnot' is a manifestation of racism, you are making assumptions about how ethnic minority communities have formed, as well as assumptions about what a society should be 'trying' to achieve, neither of which can necessarily be applied to Britain with its different history and social structure.

Well, I did some more Googling, and it looks like POC in the UK have higher unemployment rates, are much more likely to live in low-income households, and are at considerable more risk of being the victim of a racially motivated incident. Again, these are the basics and not shades of grey, but given that there do seem to be class divides on racial lines, I don't think it's stretching too far to say that housing patterns and the racial composition of neighborhoods are influenced by racism.

I'm not saying that POC, particularly immigrant POC, don't try to form their own communities, I think the reasons for doing so is far more complicated than simple self-perpetuation. Just from a brief glance, it looks like issues of class are involved, and just from statistics, I am guessing that POC in the UK may not feel that comfortable in the society, which also leads to self-segregation.

I am clearly not an expert, but the conflicting things that I hear on LJ from white people in the UK and POC in the UK make me skeptical when white people in the UK dismiss racism as a motive or a reason for racial divides, because it's much easier for white people to overlook racism.

(frozen) (no subject)

[oyceter]

Depends how you define racism,I suppose

Pretty much as the institutional oppression of people based on race.

So it is either a situation where you have to take a back seat until another Brit comes along or you can try to argue your points from your position of disadvantage.

My problem with this is that by and large, I find myself arguing these points with white British people. Which brings me to:

Who is in a better position to judge the prevalence of discrimination - the people feeling its effects or the people controlling the effects? Personally I firmly believe you have to take testimony from both sides of the equation or any conclusion is meaningless.

I believe in taking testimony from both sides, but I also believe that those who have privilege generally really suck at noticing that they have privilege, whereas those who don't are extremely aware of the effects of discrimination. Which is why I have been arguing about this; I don't think I know the country better than you, but just from general feedback from British fans of color, I suspect that, much like most places, the view of the effects of racism are very, very different depending on how much privilege someone has.

Also, I'm rather tired and would really rather not argue/discuss, so I probably won't be responding any further.

(frozen) (no subject)

[oyceter]

As a general rule though I would say that if you have to choose between suspecting disadvantages caused by class and by race then class is more likely to be the culprit.

I vehemently disagree with this, and I think the comparison of oppressions is at best pointless and usually a way to obscure whatever oppression people are talking about. And when I am talking about racism, I am talking about institutional racism.