I think a lot of people have been confused when it comes to race and racism, etc., so I’ve decided to make a thread clearing a few things up so that we can all be on the same page when we’re talking about how we can move forward as a community:
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Race and Ethnicity are two different things which often get mixed up. Ethnicity is much more narrow. Your ethnic identity is dependent on the country or culture from which you come. For example, a Jewish person can be religiously Jewish, ethnically Jewish or both. They cannot, however, be racially Jewish. The term “race” refers to a more broad idea. For example, Caucasian, Black, East Asian, etc. It can include lots of different ethnicities.
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Race and Culture are not as closely linked as you’d think. People all identify very differently, and it can be a sticky subject to make assumptions about someone’s allegiances or values based on their skin colour or race. Just because someone is Black, it doesn’t mean they subscribe to African American culture.
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"African American" can be seen by some as an offensive term. Be careful with this. People often use the term “African American” to describe all black people regardless of their history or geographical location. It can seem like you see America as the whole world, which can be quite an ignorant way to view the world. I’ll also contend that it makes Black Americans seem like less of Americans than White Americans… unless we start using the term European American, but that’s just me, and it’s something I’d be happy to discuss and hear your takes on.
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Cultural Appropriation is a hotly debated subject. That means there is no right or wrong answer when it comes to the positive or negative aspects of it. Whether it is a legitimate idea, or simply a by-product of a lack of education is in contention, so please try not to shut people down too much. If the academics debate this - and they do - it means there’s no right answer. There are just some answers which are better than others.
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Racism is also a hotly debated subject. We’ve probably all heard the argument that black people can’t be racist because they don’t have privilege. That’s an issue for many different reasons: one, it completely negates the fact that one definition of racism is simply prejudiced behaviour or language which focusses on race. Two, it negates the fact that there are other races out there which black people can be in a state of privilege over. Three, it is often used as an excuse for people to be mean to others, which is something we need to be super careful about on the forums. Four, it can lessen the extreme behaviour which some individual white people are faced with. Five, this prejudice + privilege = racism equation is actually more accurately used if we acknowledge we’re talking about systemic or systematic racism.
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Education is always the way. It can be super easy for us to tell someone off when they say something we consider offensive, but that risks ostracising them and making them feel like you’re against them. I’m not saying you can’t confront them. I’m saying that we all identify with race in different ways. If someone has offended you, explain things to them! Education goes a long way… especially over the “I’m right, and you need to shut up and listen to me” or “I can’t be bothered to talk to you so I’m going to tell you that you’re wrong and leave it at that” attitude which is dismissive and plain rude.
Please feel free to add some of your own stuff when it comes to the aforementioned topics! As I said, education is always the way, so let’s help everyone get on the same page!