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Showing posts with label privilege. Show all posts
Showing posts with label privilege. Show all posts

Monday, January 18, 2016

Thoughts about an article on racism

I noted that the website http://www.dailystormer.com/contributions/ is owned or run by white people  as their profile page states that "The Daily Stormer is non-profit and 100% reader-supported. We do what we do because we are attempting to preserve Western Civilization." Every place or country has their share of ignorant, racist people, and it depends on who one meets that shapes their perception of the people there based on their actual lived experience.

I don't quite agree with the author's (who is most likely a white person) claim that "Singaporeans are way more racist than whites" or "Whites are the least racist group in the United States, if not the world." because it seems to be an attempt by the white people to use another country's problem of racism or internalised racism to cover up or downplay the reality of white supremacy issue in America. For example, the author mentioned "It can even be directed against socially prestigious whites" by citing the example of Anthony Casey who was criticised for looking down on poor people in Singapore when he was taking public transport - the backlash from Singaporeans against his remarks is actually in response to the fact that they were critical about white privilege and snobbery, so it wasn't really racism or reverse racism as the author implied, because protesting against white privilege isn't considered racism. 

"Only those in power (economic, political, social, etc.) have the power to actually be racist. The rest of us are simply the pawn in the malicious enterprise of racism, and every other “ism” for that matter. Anyone can have prejudice, but only white privileged people can be racist because we were the prize, never the participants in the race. The only ones that benefit from racism are those in power. The only ones who are adversely affected by it are those who are oppressed."
http://blackgirlspeaks.me/2014/02/18/a-message-to-white-privileged-people-who-take-offense-to-black-power-movements/
The author himself admitted that "Singaporeans are tougher on race than Americans, but they are not spilling blood or establishing their own Jim Crow system as in Indonesia and Malaysia respectively.  Actually, Singapore`s race policy is quite rational and workable." So when it comes to racial violence and oppression to the point of genocide and slavery, the racism issue of white America against people of colour, especially black community and native Indians, is in fact more serious. So all in all, while it is increasingly acknowledged that there is racism in Singapore, mostly out of ignorance of other people's cultures, as well as internalised racism or colourism among Asians such as Chinese, Malays and Indians, which more and more people are becoming aware of and talking about it in academia and social media such as alternative media, the author's generalisation that "Singaporeans are way more racist than white people" isn't quite true. This is also not to say there aren't enlightened white people because more and more white people are coming out of the closet who are conscious of the issue of racism and white supremacy and are attempting to deal with it by bringing awareness to the world as well.

Friday, April 24, 2015

A call to deal with systemic and institutional racism

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBtGgsmtKLM&app=desktop


More and more people, especially those in the West, are becoming more aware and are talking openly about the issues of racism and white privilege. It is thus heartening to see the speaker acknowledging the issues and challenging people, especially those of his own race, to see through the myths and recognize that historically, many white people have been mistreating the native Americans and the black community, stealing from them their territories and their labour, sweat and tears. Indeed, this reality is opposite of what people have been told by the media that has been dominated by privileged people, and it is good and courageous of him to debunk the myths and to encourage his fellow whites to deal with the issues of racism and white privilege that their ancestors have started, in order to bring about greater healing and equality among humanity.