1 00:00:32,068 --> 00:00:35,246 [Mia] Hello. I'm Mia McKenzie, founder of Black Girl Dangerous. 2 00:00:35,246 --> 00:00:37,610 [Janani] And I'm Janani, Assistant Editor of Black Girl Dangerous. 3 00:00:37,610 --> 00:00:40,270 [Mia] And this is, QTPOC Chat. 4 00:00:40,270 --> 00:00:45,050 This is our series where we chat about stuff that is interesting to us 5 00:00:45,050 --> 00:00:49,020 and perhaps to other queer and trans people of color. 6 00:00:49,020 --> 00:00:53,358 Today, we're gonna be talking about reverse-racism. 7 00:00:53,358 --> 00:00:57,000 [Janani] Or, really, why reverse-racism is not actually a thing. 8 00:00:57,000 --> 00:01:00,112 [Mia] It's not a thing. It definitely isn't. 9 00:01:00,173 --> 00:01:07,636 But I find... i feel like this is the thing that is maybe the most contested of all the things. 10 00:01:07,636 --> 00:01:10,405 You know, I feel like whenever I post anything 11 00:01:10,405 --> 00:01:16,810 about white folks, about separatism, white privilege, white superiority, anything, 12 00:01:17,225 --> 00:01:20,593 ten million motherfuckers are like *"you're being reverse-racist!"* 13 00:01:21,071 --> 00:01:25,566 Like, it's every schmo motherfucker who doesn't know anything about anything, 14 00:01:25,566 --> 00:01:28,977 it's their go-to, their first thing is reverse-racism. 15 00:01:28,977 --> 00:01:36,485 So, I felt like it was important to try to talk a little bit about why that is not a thing 16 00:01:36,485 --> 00:01:39,869 and then I can just send the people the link. 17 00:01:39,869 --> 00:01:42,214 [Janani] Yeah, to the video. 18 00:01:42,214 --> 00:01:43,992 [Mia] Yeah, to the video, and this is why it's not. 19 00:01:43,992 --> 00:01:45,867 So, let's talk about why it's not a thing. 20 00:01:45,867 --> 00:01:51,268 [Janani] So, I think the fact that people are able to clam that reverse racism is a thing 21 00:01:51,268 --> 00:01:58,717 speaks to the way that somehow we've re-conceived racism as something that's interpersonal, 22 00:01:58,717 --> 00:02:01,845 like, you make racist speech acts towards me and 23 00:02:01,845 --> 00:02:04,385 you said something racist to me/ you did something racist to me. 24 00:02:04,385 --> 00:02:06,997 Which is true. Like, those things can happen. 25 00:02:06,997 --> 00:02:10,824 But I think much more, racism is a systemic thing 26 00:02:10,824 --> 00:02:16,561 that is contained within our institutions, our prisons, our schools, our hospitals, like, our government, 27 00:02:16,561 --> 00:02:21,145 in legacies and histories of enslavement and colonialism. 28 00:02:22,221 --> 00:02:30,039 So, it would literally take, I don't know, white folks living in US America and the West 29 00:02:30,039 --> 00:02:33,303 being then re-colonized, enslaved, 30 00:02:33,303 --> 00:02:38,145 whatever you know, systemic injustices have taken place against all sorts of people of color, 31 00:02:38,145 --> 00:02:41,644 happening to them for there to be a system of reverse-racism in place. 32 00:02:41,644 --> 00:02:50,186 [Mia] Exactly. So, you know... I wrote a blog post a while back 33 00:02:50,186 --> 00:02:54,092 called How to Be A Reverse Racist (with co-writer AD Song) 34 00:02:54,092 --> 00:03:02,303 and the point of that post is, you know, it sort of lists all the ways in which people of color experience oppression, 35 00:03:02,303 --> 00:03:06,138 all the ways that colonialism has, you know 36 00:03:06,138 --> 00:03:09,840 just the whole system that exists and why, 37 00:03:09,840 --> 00:03:13,344 because white people are not the victims of that system, 38 00:03:13,344 --> 00:03:16,346 white people aren't the victims of racism. 39 00:03:16,346 --> 00:03:18,543 And that's not to say that white people can't be 40 00:03:18,543 --> 00:03:21,335 you know, that you can't be prejudiced against white people, 41 00:03:21,335 --> 00:03:24,622 that you can't have feelings about white people that are just because theyre white. 42 00:03:24,622 --> 00:03:26,328 You can. 43 00:03:26,328 --> 00:03:31,967 It's not to say that you can't discriminate or make all kinds of decisions based on someone being white. 44 00:03:31,967 --> 00:03:40,806 But it is to say that even in doing that, you're not contributing to a system that is oppressive to white people, 45 00:03:40,806 --> 00:03:43,824 because there isn't a system that is oppressive to white people. 46 00:03:44,762 --> 00:03:46,445 [Janani] Not on the basis of their being white. 47 00:03:46,445 --> 00:03:48,612 [Mia] Right. Not on the basis of their being white. Exactly. 48 00:03:48,612 --> 00:03:58,157 [Janani] Oddly enough, some of this white allyship discourse has actually contributed to the possibility for claims of reverse racism. Right? 49 00:03:58,157 --> 00:04:04,362 Because again, saying that white people can be allies, or that ally is an identity that you can have, 50 00:04:04,362 --> 00:04:12,202 makes racism often into a personal thing or an interpersonal thing. 51 00:04:12,202 --> 00:04:19,376 Yes, white people can participate in the struggle for dismantling systemic racism, 52 00:04:19,376 --> 00:04:21,645 but ally is not an identity you can have 53 00:04:21,645 --> 00:04:29,953 because by being a white person you are caught up in that system of white supremacy. 54 00:04:29,953 --> 00:04:37,863 And I think allyship tends to sort of center the doing of racism on people: 55 00:04:37,863 --> 00:04:41,235 *"other white people are racist and I'm learning how not to be a racist."* 56 00:04:41,235 --> 00:04:49,005 As opposed to, *"white supremacy exists and I'm going to dismantle the systems by which it is enacted and perpetuated."* 57 00:04:49,005 --> 00:04:55,145 [Mia] When there's something on Black Girl Dangerous and people start to cry reverse-racism 58 00:04:55,145 --> 00:05:02,404 I have a really smart friend, my friend Alex Ross, who's a white cis male, 59 00:05:02,404 --> 00:05:09,193 and his answer to those people when they accuse me of being reverse-racist towards them is like, 60 00:05:09,193 --> 00:05:14,310 *"What did she say that contributed to white people not being able to be employed?"* You know? 61 00:05:14,310 --> 00:05:21,129 Like, *"What did she say that contributed to white people being incarcerated at exorbitant rates compared to everyone else?"* 62 00:05:21,129 --> 00:05:27,892 You can't call something racism that doesn't feed into a racist system, thats not a part of a racist system. 63 00:05:27,892 --> 00:05:31,837 You know, if I say something you don't like, something that makes you feel like I don't like you 64 00:05:31,837 --> 00:05:33,669 well, that's... say that. 65 00:05:33,669 --> 00:05:37,607 Say, *"what you said makes me feel like you don't like me."* 66 00:05:37,607 --> 00:05:41,660 But don't call it racism or reverse-racism 67 00:05:41,660 --> 00:05:49,943 when it's not in any way, shape or form, now, then or ever going to feed into a system 68 00:05:49,943 --> 00:05:53,558 that's going to keep you from having access to education, 69 00:05:53,558 --> 00:05:58,897 from not being the victim of police brutality, 70 00:05:58,897 --> 00:06:05,239 being incarcerated, not having access to safe food or housing. 71 00:06:05,239 --> 00:06:09,907 Like, none of those things is happening when someone doesn't like a white person. 72 00:06:09,907 --> 00:06:15,176 None of that is feeding into a system that's built up to oppress white folks. 73 00:06:15,176 --> 00:06:18,847 So, people you just need to change your language. 74 00:06:18,847 --> 00:06:22,953 I mean, I think what it is at its core is that people don't really understand what racism is, 75 00:06:22,953 --> 00:06:28,330 like you said, people think either racism is some sort of interpersonal thing or 76 00:06:28,330 --> 00:06:36,525 I mean, some people don't even understand... some people's definitions of racism are just so shockingly simple: 77 00:06:36,525 --> 00:06:40,178 You know, it's not liking people because of their race. 78 00:06:40,178 --> 00:06:42,073 No. That's not racism. 79 00:06:42,073 --> 00:06:47,607 You guys need to read and you need to you know, there's Google. 80 00:06:47,607 --> 00:06:50,482 There's this thing, there's Google, did you ever heard of it?! 81 00:06:50,482 --> 00:06:52,782 Do some research. Go to the library. 82 00:06:52,782 --> 00:06:56,429 That is not a definition of racism, that's not what racism is. 83 00:06:56,429 --> 00:06:59,390 Go get caught up on what racism is and how it operates, 84 00:06:59,390 --> 00:07:01,688 because if you don't even understand that 85 00:07:01,688 --> 00:07:10,598 then you're not going to be able to have a conversation about racism and how it operates at all. 86 00:07:11,297 --> 00:07:15,270 [Janani] So, if you want to continue the conversation with us over facebook, feel free, 87 00:07:15,270 --> 00:07:17,855 and if you have any other thoughts, feel free to send them our way also, 88 00:07:17,855 --> 00:07:21,398 whether by video or blog post or whatever you got. Until next time. 89 00:07:21,398 --> 00:07:22,400 [Mia] Bye. 90 00:07:22,400 --> 00:07:23,287 [Janani] Bye.