I come from a white family, and I enjoy the benefits of white privilege thanks to pale skin. I identify as white in terms of issues of racism and ancestry. But I have left white culture behind. After all, whiteness was invented by slave traders in the 1500s to justify slavery. In Europe, people identified with ethnic groups such as their nationality or religion. In Europe, there are massive racial tensions between Bulgarians, Serbs, Hungarians, Romani, Turks… But in the new world, all of the peoples of Europe (Except for arbitrary groups like Irish and Jewish) could unite as the singular WHITE RACE, defined in opposition to the black slaves and the native Americans. It was a fiction, dozens of different ethnicities ganging up together to beat the shit out of the new victims. Whiteness is inherently colonial, because whiteness was invented to justify colonisation.
I grew up in Australia, being taught to identify with the white colonial oppressor culture. But it didn’t work, I do not see Myself in the criminals who stole this continent for their king and queen. I have done what I can to decolonise My mind, and I continue to do so. It’s a process that will never end until all the world has said no to whiteness. Are you brave enough to leave whiteness behind? You have some great choices in front of you. You could rediscover the culture your ancestors had before whiteness was invented. Maybe you’re English, or German, or Dutch. Or you could help make something entirely new, while remembering and attempting to reconcile the past. Whiteness does not have to be your heart.
cool story. doesn’t change the fact that you used “white people” in a way that implies you think all white people are like that, which is bigoted. feel free to double down though im sure that will convince me.
White and black aren’t the same. Just like cis and trans aren’t the same, and straight and gay aren’t the same. There’s a difference between punching up and punching down. There’s also a difference between insulting a group you aren’t part of, and criticising a culture you were born into. I think I have the right to criticise the environment I was raised in. And so do the people who have lived their lives being oppressed by that culture.
i dont really like how you keep saying white people like all of us are like that… no group is a monolith.
I come from a white family, and I enjoy the benefits of white privilege thanks to pale skin. I identify as white in terms of issues of racism and ancestry. But I have left white culture behind. After all, whiteness was invented by slave traders in the 1500s to justify slavery. In Europe, people identified with ethnic groups such as their nationality or religion. In Europe, there are massive racial tensions between Bulgarians, Serbs, Hungarians, Romani, Turks… But in the new world, all of the peoples of Europe (Except for arbitrary groups like Irish and Jewish) could unite as the singular WHITE RACE, defined in opposition to the black slaves and the native Americans. It was a fiction, dozens of different ethnicities ganging up together to beat the shit out of the new victims. Whiteness is inherently colonial, because whiteness was invented to justify colonisation.
I grew up in Australia, being taught to identify with the white colonial oppressor culture. But it didn’t work, I do not see Myself in the criminals who stole this continent for their king and queen. I have done what I can to decolonise My mind, and I continue to do so. It’s a process that will never end until all the world has said no to whiteness. Are you brave enough to leave whiteness behind? You have some great choices in front of you. You could rediscover the culture your ancestors had before whiteness was invented. Maybe you’re English, or German, or Dutch. Or you could help make something entirely new, while remembering and attempting to reconcile the past. Whiteness does not have to be your heart.
cool story. doesn’t change the fact that you used “white people” in a way that implies you think all white people are like that, which is bigoted. feel free to double down though im sure that will convince me.
I think maybe your white fragility is having a negative impact on your literacy.
replace white with black and think about whether it sounds bigoted
White and black aren’t the same. Just like cis and trans aren’t the same, and straight and gay aren’t the same. There’s a difference between punching up and punching down. There’s also a difference between insulting a group you aren’t part of, and criticising a culture you were born into. I think I have the right to criticise the environment I was raised in. And so do the people who have lived their lives being oppressed by that culture.