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.
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/