“You don’t come back in here until you’ve apologized to every person in this room, Because you just exercised a freedom that none of these people of color have. When these people of color get tired of racism, they can’t just walk out, because there’s no place in this country where they aren’t going to be exposed to racism. They can’t even stay in their own homes and not be exposed to racism if they turn on their television. But you, as a white female, when you get tired of being judged and treated unfairly on the basis of your eye color, you can walk out that door, and you know it won’t happen out there. You exercised a freedom they don’t have. If you’re going to be in here you’re going to apologize to every person of color in this room. And do it now.”
“I’m sorry there’s racism in this country—
“BULLSHIT! No, you’re not going to say ‘I’m sorry there’s racism.’ You’re going to apologize for what YOU just did.”
“I will not apologize because it’s not a matter of race always—”
“OUT.”
Jane Elliot is a champ.
For context, re: the last two posts.
How Racist Are You/ Brown Eyes-Blue Eyes Experiment - “The Angry Eye”
Know what’s so funny about this? How the blue-eyed White folks know this is an exercise (as in not real life!) and can’t stand taking the shit people of color deal with for a couple of hours before they’re screaming and crying and storming off. They know it’s fake, and they still can’t deal!
Yet these are the people who are supposedly so much smarter than me, so much more reasonable than me, so much more civilized than me!
Seriously, she’s bawling over there because she’s getting a PERCENTAGE of what so effing many people have to deal with constantly on a regular basis. Grow the fudge up, doll face. Welcome to a different set of shoes, now walk it off. This exercise is great, and should probably be taught to even younger people. Empathy needs to be engrained in when people are young. Not hate.
Actually, Jane Elliott was a schoolteacher who developed this exercise shortly after the death of MLK for the 3rd grade class she taught. Check out A Classroom Divided.
Funny how the kids handled this better than the adults. Remember, they were in White-assed Iowa. In the 60s. There was a follow-up some 25 or 30 years later, but I can’t find it right now.
I think this exercise needs to be taught to adults, too, because I think it may serves as a reality check of not only what they say/do themselves, but understand how they enact this in roles like the workplace and, if they are around children, what they model for kids in terms of bigotry and privilege.
File Under: Why It Matters
In a recent study done in Washington University in St Louis, researchers have found that, when reading, the human brain simulates what it reads. It simulates everything, and even engages the part of the brain which would process this situation in real life.
A new brain-imaging study is shedding light on what it means to “get lost” in a good book — suggesting that readers create vivid mental simulations of the sounds, sights, tastes and movements described in a textual narrative while simultaneously activating brain regions used to process similar experiences in real life.
Do I need to explain why this matters? I will, just in case.
This sort of thing is fairly benign, or even positive, when reading helpful stories. When reading about another culture, about a heroic adventure, about someone doing the right thing despite personal loss. That’s great. In these instances, the brain’s ability to simulate what we read is very helpful. We get to experience difficult situations in a safe, controlled environment.
But what if those messages are bad? What if those messages are things like, the hero is always a white, straight, cisgendered, able-bodied male? What if it’s things like The Black Character Will Always Betray You or Die For You? What if it’s Women Are Just Trophies For Men At The End Of Their Journey? What if it’s just another in the series of unhelpful or damaging tropes?
When you see these stories, and you see them over and over, your brain re-enacts that shit. It will start to see these things as real, and act that way, even if you as a rational person realize this shit’s not okay. It’ll result in subtle crap like checking for your wallet when a black man gets on the bus, or talking over a woman in a meeting because your opinion matters more. It’ll lead to thinking saying things like “I don’t mind if people are gay, I just wish they wouldn’t flaunt it” is totally okay and perhaps even open-minded of you. Shit like that.
When we say humans are a storyteller species, this shit is what we’re talking about. So to anybody who’s ever tried to convince you that narratives don’t matter, it’s just fiction, blah blah blah, well no, no it’s not. Because science.
I think that what may possibly be my favorite thing about the Legend of Korra
even more than the fact that it is basically an Asian-inspired steampunk cartoon about revolutionary factions with a brown female lead (and wow did I never think I would be…
![cartoonpilot:
What are your thoughts on why we don’t see more films with African American women leads?
It’s certainly not for me to answer because I have nothing to do with why the world is as fucked up as it is. It has less to do with TV and movies and more to do with race and history and culture. It’s obviously a reflection of the world we live in[… .]I don’t know the answer to your question and I don’t know if there is one. I plan to keep doing what I’m doing because race is just not a part of the way I look at the world and the way I live my life.](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lmyr4grP0o1qi7b5jo1_500.jpg)
What are your thoughts on why we don’t see more films with African American women leads?
It’s certainly not for me to answer because I have nothing to do with why the world is as fucked up as it is. It has less to do with TV and movies and more to do with race and history and culture. It’s obviously a reflection of the world we live in[… .]I don’t know the answer to your question and I don’t know if there is one. I plan to keep doing what I’m doing because race is just not a part of the way I look at the world and the way I live my life.
| — | George Takei, responding to the idea that Asian American actors aren’t given starring roles because they aren’t bankable (via unicornicopia) |
amq:
I remember when this was all over the news….
hey and remember that time he was caught on camera using a load of racial slurs? SO HOT, MARRY ME HARRY. i’ve already had a go about this on twitter but w/e, why is this guy everyone’s “i don’t go for gingers but he’s the exception?”. aside from all the stuff above, have you seen his face? god dammit people UP YOUR STANDARDS.
