Rat Race Cycles is looking for a new mechanic

Pedant alert Isn’t racism defined as discrimination of a person or
group based on the colour of their skin? end pedant alert

Yo so basically, the way we understand racism in literal terms can be quite confusing. But really, the way we commonly understand racism is informed by our history and societal and cultural structures which impact people.

So say for example, a POC could say something to me which is shitty towards me based on the fact I am white. Fundamentally, this doesn't come loaded with the understanding that they'd been benefitting from their identity as a POC this entire time, and are looking to uphold that. I go about my day to day life benefitting from being white, a POC doesn't.

Take for example, I don't know, the police system, I do something racist, I know our policing structure inherently will treat me better than any POC. In a reverse situation, the policing system will still be more likely to side with me as a """victim""" of """reverse racism""".

But that's just one example, it's not just policing systems which uphold this, it's everywhere from your white-dominated workplace getting away with never noticing the way they're treating their white staff to your local cycling group where someone might say something racist out-of-hand and not realise they're doing so. We're socialised to view some things as common place and others with no historical backing, but POC have to sit by this everyday.

The way we be anti-racist, isn't about giving everyone the same opportunities and uplifting them. It's about striving to make society an equal state across the board. So like this job, we're going in with the awareness that any candidate whos a white cisgender man is more likely to be accepted into other workplaces, whereas a POC or woman or trans person is inherently got a lesser pool of opportunities.

Anyways 〰︎ I'm not that articulate w explaining this stuff but this article is v good - https://gal-dem.com/reverse-racism-not-exist/

So that's a popular (and i guess basic legal) definition, which is what continues to cause the misguided "that's racist against white people" cos it describes racial prejudice (Which can exist for all racial groups and ethnicities) and that definition (because it's a largely a legal, linguistic one) was largely decided on by white people.

Racism is tied to power, who holds (and historicall held) power and who got to define race and racialise (and conquer) certain groups, as well as design and set in place structures and systems that disadvantage those racialised groups. IIRC it was Reni Eddo-Lodge put forward the equation of Racism = Prejudice + Power.

So racism is the attitudes, culture, designations, structures and systems that historically people in power (white people) put in place benefit themselves and exclude and disadvantage non white people.

I'd strongly recommend reading 'Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People about Race' by Reni Eddo-Lodge. It's a really accessible, brisk read on this topic and i learned a lot from it.

also this is useful:

https://gal-dem.com/reverse-racism-not-exist/