One thing my previous posts for IBARW have been lacking is much emphasis on the personal. It is much much easier for me to try to engage with the ideas abstractly than it is for me to say “this is my shit, let me show it to you.” But I think that it’s important to bring the personal to the table because so much of undoing institutional racism involves undoing the individual racism of the participants in the institutions.

And so much of effective anti-racist work is learning to own your issues, to look at the problem of racism and say “this is what I need to work on” rather than “this is what I need to teach other people to work on.”

But still, it’s hard to talk about. Especially in a public forum with readers who are all over the map in their race philosophies. My racist shit is ugly and it’s deep and showing it to other people is hard. I’m going to try. We’ll see how it goes.

Hi. My name is Meg and I’m racist.

( Hi, Meg )

This is not a comprehensive list of all the ways I’ve benefited from racism or of all the fucked up things I’ve ever thought or did. But this is some of them and I hope that putting them out there illustrates some of the ways that internalized racial superiority plays out in my life.

So here’s a secret: Nobody is perfect. Perfect, in fact, doesn’t exist.

I know this is hard for some of you to hear. White culture in this country relies pretty heavily on feeding us all the myth that perfection is out there, it is in your grasp and you are a failure when you fall short. (Note: saying something is part of white culture does not mean that only white people have/value/are afflicted with something. I’m not saying only white folks are perfectionists. As Tema Okun says “Because we all live in a white supremacy culture, these characteristics show up in the attitudes and behaviors of all of us -- people of color and white people.” For an overview of white culture try this article by Sharon Martinas and for more specifics on how it manifests (including specifics about perfectionism) try this article by Tema Okun)

We all grow up with this myth of perfection, that it’s out there, that it’s within our grasp and that myth is incredibly destructive to nearly all aspects of our lives. For white folks, one of the places that it is particularly destructive is in our attempts to do anti-racist work.

( on making mistakes and taking responsibility )

This is all a process. Making mistakes, being imperfect, isn’t going to magically become comfortable for you. I still spend a good chunk of my time terrified of saying or doing or being the wrong thing and then somehow being tagged as a bad anti-racist white person. It’s important to try. It’s important to lurch messily toward graceful mistake making and owning. It’s important to try to let go of your perfectionism.

You and the people around you will be much happier.

cross-posted from my LJ

This week is International Blog Against Racism Week. I think we should all be blogging against racism wherever and whenever we see it but I also think that having dedicated space for a conversation is a good idea. So I am participating and I hope you do too. Watch ibarw for links to what other people are writing.

In order for us to be able to have conversations about racism it’s important that we all be on the same page about what racism is. So I decided that a place to start during this lovely IBARW was with a post clarifying the definitions of some of the words that get thrown around a lot. Fair warning, the definitions I work from sometimes make people uncomfortable. I ask that you read all of them, particularly if you are going to read the definition of racism.

For those of you who don’t know me, I’m an owning class queer white person who has been explicitly working on her skanky race issues for about two years. I live in the Pacific Northwest and was raised in Massachusetts. My understanding of race and racism is heavily influenced by trainings from The People’s Institute for Surival and Beyond.

This is a long post but an important one. Instead of cutting my entire list of definitions I’ve posted basic definitions outside of cuts and then cut the (sometimes lengthy) discussion of them.

Race = A socially constructed system of classification based on physical characteristics such as skin color.
( more on race as a construct and as a tool of oppression )

Power = Legitimate (in the 'legal & authorized' sense) access to and control of systems and institutions sanctioned by the state.
( Power, in the united states is held by white people )

Prejudice = Bias in favor of, or against someone. This one doesn’t need much more explanation. Everybody’s got prejudices no matter what your race, class, gender, sexual orientation or any other demograhic criteria.

Bigotry = Hatred based on prejudice.
( a few examples of bigotry )

Racism = Racism is systematic oppression based on race. It can be summarized as racism = racial prejudice + power
( and here is the money shot of this particular post, you probably shouldn’t read this one unless you’ve read the rest of the post )

Thank you to those of you who read those definitions, I think it’s crucial that we understand the language we each use so as to better communicate about difficult issues.

To finish things off I have a few links for you about the things I’ve discussed today. The list is skewed toward things that would be helpful for white folks. I am a white person so that’s what I tend to read. I tend to bookmark things I think are awesome in my del.icio.us account so you can go there to see what other things I’ve been reading (del.icio.us/nevernever/race)

The first three links are things I think it’s imperative for you to read. The last is a list of other links that are awesome.

I Can Fix It! Volume 1: Racism - Five easy steps to end racism. There are five steps for white folks and five steps for folks of color. They are awesome.

White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack Peggy McIntosh - This is one of those things that everybody suggests when talking about white privilege. If you’ve been around anti-racist work you’ve probably read it. If you haven’t read it YOU MUST. For serious. Go read now.

How Not To Be Insane When Accused Of Racism (A Guide For White People) - Imagine how much angst could have been avoided in the SGA & HP fandoms if everyone had read this.

The Angry Black Woman’s List of Required Reading - An excellent list of things to read about racism.

Questions and comments are welcome. I’m currently visiting my family and so I may take some time to respond, but I’m excited to engage in conversation about these definitions.