tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35503001.post269281143711634414..comments2023-10-19T07:42:41.912-04:00Comments on Afrogeek Mom and Dad: Clemson Gangsta Party, Biden, and Some Other StuffUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35503001.post-60556871356567729162007-02-03T16:00:00.000-05:002007-02-03T16:00:00.000-05:00There is a somewhat odd post at slate.com on how t...There is a somewhat odd post at slate.com on how the racist attitude of the speaker (Biden, in this case0 does not matter, what matters is the policy enacted, which is true up to a apoint, but also beside the point.<br /><br />And I am also trying to work through my own white privilege response which is to want to say -- don;t even tell me about this and please don;t let it be happening where I teach. When if you don;t read about it you don;t see how truly appalling it was and if you hope it is not happening where I (we) teach, then I suspect (as is often true) that I am living in a dream world.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35503001.post-73438127200484093222007-02-02T20:02:00.000-05:002007-02-02T20:02:00.000-05:00Yep. In fact, the idea of racism as a hooded figu...Yep. In fact, the idea of racism as a hooded figure--as individual acts of hatred--I think is a huge obstacle. It's easy to identify the KKK member as racist. It's harder to see the much more pervasive racism that's manifested in invisible systems that privilege certain groups while disempowering others. And also what you're talking about here, racism operating at the level of the symbolic.<br /><br />AND ALSO, there's this idea in one of the essays I teach that's called "the priciple of intentions vs. effects." Lord, let's see if I can condense this: the idea is, if you are in a privileged position, then you don't get to decide what the moral significance of your behavior is, if that behavior affects someone in a less privileged position. Your intentions don't get to define the meaning of your behavior. The person who's affected gets to say what that behavior means and what needs to be done to make it right. I'm thinking about that in terms of the Clemson situation. Those racist white kids will say, "But we didn't MEAN it that way! It was a joke!" The principle of intentions vs. effects says that their intention doesn't get to define the meaning of what they did--it doesn't matter if they meant it as a joke. Its effect was racist.Alison Piepmeierhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17972854288403934814noreply@blogger.com