Someone is using the FAQ, Help and Suggestions thread to say disturbing things--so let me make a couple of things perfectly clear: https://chsroundup.com/5653/viewpoints/is-heterophobia-real/
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/opinion-can-black-people-be-racist_n_5c3e5e8be4b01c93e00e8764
Black people can't be racist? Wow. Okay, let's ignore that opinion piece written by someone who has clearly led a sheltered life, and let me tell you about someone I worked with back in college.
I worked at the university hospital where I had a black co-worker, which, to be honest, didn't really register as a difference at first. We got along great, chatted frequently, and I had been raised to be "color-blind," so to speak. One day I heard him talking on the phone in a completely different tone and style than I'd ever heard from him. He sounded almost "gangsta," which totally didn't seem like it suited his slim, nerdy stature. I majored in linguistics because I was fascinated by how people communicate, so, naturally, I asked him about it later.
What he explained to me is that, while he was actually more comfortable talking the way he did around the office, he wouldn't dare speak that way with people from the neighborhood where he grew up. He told me that, if he visited home and people heard him talking "like a white person," he'd not only have to worry about his own life, but also the lives of his sister and mother who still lived in that neighborhood. He was literally scared that people he considered neighbors and friends, people he grew up with, would kill him and his nearest relatives if he wasn't black enough.
How is that not racism?
Incidentally, I love how the author of the article says that people of color can be prejudiced but not racist, but then, to prove his point, links to a dictionary entry for racism that includes the definition "racial discrimination or prejudice."
Edit: The sort of attitude that leads people to say, "heterophobia isn't a thing," or, "people of color can't be racist," is the same dangerous exceptionalism that makes people say, "only men can be abusers; they're never the victims." Well, guess what....
Post edit: And if you're not convinced yet, the current news should make it pretty clear. There has been a rash of anti-Asian hate crimes in the past week or so, and a disturbing number of those have been committed by African Americans. How can anyone assault someone for the color of their skin while expecting not to be treated the same way? Does BLM need to be taught that ALM?
last edited at Mar 25, 2021 10:12AM