Charles has posted the 18th Erase Racism Carnival over at Kill Bigotry! As usual we have great submissions.
Here is the schedule for the next 3 months. January is still open if anyone is interested in hosting. For more information about the carnival, check out the carnival’s home page at Ally Work.
November 2007 @ Eric Stoller
December 2007 @ Present Progressive Mood
January 2008 @ open
I’m really not a fan of that “One Race Human Race” shirt that’s being plugged in a link at the end of the carnival. Seems a bit too much like that “I don’t see race – I just see people” dumbass generic comment.
My most immediate concern is where the money goes from the sale of those shirts, mugs, etc.
It’s a cafepress shop, so the money would be split between cafepress and the designers of the shirt (mugs etc). Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
Like Katie, my main problem with the shirt is that it’s message could so easily be co-opted by the “I don’t see race” crowd.
What’s wrong with the “I don’t see race” crowd?
Colorblind/”I don’t see race” is problematic because it denies race. If you look at a person of color and pretend that they’re colorless, you’re pretending they have no culture, and that their race means nothing, and you’re denying a part of them that causes them trouble in our racist society, as well as something they’re proud of. It doesn’t respect who they are.
A person of color can’t afford to be colorblind. He can’t afford to pretend that race doesn’t exist, because something will happen to remind him. He doesn’t have the racial privilege to indulge in that luxury.
At best it comes down to an empty gesture. It’s not very meaningful in terms of racism, as denying race also denies racism. It’s a matter of privilege that a white person can pretend to not see race, because “race” isn’t a system that punishes him just for his skin color.
What?! I thought colorblind was the goal. What happened to all that “Don’t look at me as a person of color, just look at me as a person.” rhetoric from the 90s? No wonder we whites can never seem to satisfy whomever, when we keep getting mixed messages like this. That’s it. I give up on this whole race thing. You guys are as loony as the Klan freaks.
“You guys are as loony as the Klan freaks.”
Tred, you now have two choices.
1) You can go read this link, including at least some of the discussion: http://theangryblackwoman.wordpress.com/2007/04/23/things-you-need-to-understand-5-color-blindness/ and then come back and apologize to Lisa.
2) You can be banned from this blog.
Tred, I didn’t attack you or say anything that warranted such a hostile response. I’m sorry if you came across politics in the 90s that aren’t compatible with the politics today – but that happens. Sometimes people pick a political dead end.
Further, I supported the whole “don’t see race” thing in the early 90s, because I didn’t really understand it. When I read criticisms of “colorblind” attitudes, I didn’t get upset or attack the people saying it.
No one is obligated to pick a particular political stance and never waver from that course ever again, nor does the fact that some people pick that stance mean that everyone who is in the same group as that person must have taken the same stance.