Forum Replies Created
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Stacy Alaimo from Facebook
[me note–S.A. is the author of this:
and now to the actual post—>]
I’ve been excited and hopeful about the uprisings and some of the official responses that suggest there is finally (!!!) some long overdue momentum to stop racist police violence. But I am concerned about the backlash brewing (being purposefully vague here because the specifics are triggering). And even though I’m glad so many people are reading and thinking and talking about racism and white privilege I’m worried that this will evaporate into a fuzzy sort of “awareness” (versus legislation and material change!), which various corporate and other entities pin on their products (like the pink ribbon of Susan B Komen foundation that adorns many carcinogenic products). Also, I’ve heard a few radio interviews in which white people claimed to know nothing about racism, cheerfully admitting their ignorance, which troubles me. My immediate reaction is, uh, where have you been living? WTF? But I also think about all the courses I used to teach that were focused on race, in which white students would claim to know nothing about racism, until I asked them whether they had anyone in their family who was racist or whether they had ever been around white people who were racist. As it turns out, sadly, they knew a lot about racists and racism. I’m feeling shaky with hope that things might finally begin to change, but also wary of, say the sudden endorsement of Juneteenth on a bunch of products and services, the fuzzy warm “awareness” that makes white people comfortable in their new (?) consciousness, and the ways “ignorance” can be performed as innocence. This is a mess of thoughts and feelings–that I am sure have been articulated better by someone else.
