Embryo of Philosophy

Why do people continue to Not Get It? Today's post isn't about stuff that's jaw-droppingly rage inducing, but still makes me go "Argh!"

Yesterday, in my lesbian lit class, we were discussing Stone Butch Blues. Since the book deals with Diné/Navajo culture and transgenderism, it's no surprise that the topic of of third genders within Native American Cultures would come up. The problem came when one woman used the word "berdache." While this is indeed a word used to describe non-gender-conforming native peoples, it's an insulting word, first used by European conquers to insult the people they were destroying. Also, using berdache as a blanket term ignores the multitude of differences across tribes. (I really hate it when I hear something described as a "Native American custom." Which tribe are you talking about? Cheyenne? Arapaho? Iroquois? Mohawk? I demand details!) When I brought this up, I was all but attacked, with the woman insisting that the work should be used for convenience's sake. The professor tried to cool the situation and made a note that perhaps someone should research the history of berdache. Which is exactly what I did. I looked in Transgender Warriors by Leslie Feinberg and Sex Changes by Patrick Califia, and found confirmation for my statement. (I would hope so, considering those books are where I got the information in the first place. But it's nice to have straight textual evidence.) I fully plan to bring this up tomorrow. The professor better have meant it when she said that someone should look into this. I do my research! And my research does not support the "Yay Western Imperialism!" viewpoint.

By the way, a blanket term for gender nonconformity within Native American Cultures that actually used by native people is two-spirit. That's respectful. Of course, if you come across someone who doesn't like the term, you shouldn't use it to describe them. (I shouldn't have to point that out, but.)

Later the same day, in my Christianity and Democracy class, I encountered a different time of privilege. We were discussing Christianity and Democracy by John De Gruchy. Of course, it's severely difficult to discuss the problem knowing that it's highly unlikely that anyone reading this has also read said book. To give you an overview of my issues, I'll just put up my response paper that I wrote for the class.

( Read more... )

All right, there you go. Little more than you strictly needed, but you understand my issues.

There are times when something seems incredibly clear to you, and you're shocked to find that people disagree. This happened in class. Two people thought that De Gruchy wasn't privileging Christianity. That's right, saying that an ideal society would be modeled after the Holy Trinity has nothing to do with concept of Christian supremacy. One woman couldn't see what the problem was. "If you like his ideas," she said, "why does it matter how he expresses them?"

I wonder what it would be like to go through life seeing absolutely nothing oppressive about saying that people not believing in the Christian God is responsible for society's ills, or that God should be a "necessary working hypothesis with regard to science, ethics, or art." It's classic Christian privilege. (Of course, it's possible that the woman wasn't a Christian. There will always be people who defend oppressors without being them. Look at the sheer number of sexist and misogynistic women. But I find it more likely that she's Christian.)

I'm reminded that in the same class, someone expressed the belief that the presidential inauguration wasn't explicitly Christian. Multiple preachers, swearing in the president with his hand on the Bible, and reference to God in the speech, and it's not Christian! People don't seem to get that the concept of Christianity as default in our society is problematic.


But now we reach our last point for today. And this point deals not with other people's privilege, but with my own. (So much harder to deal with.)

I'm not sure how much any one person on my flist has been keeping up with Racefail 09. I know that there's a lot that I've been missing. If you want to catch up, rydra_wong has an extensive (and impressive) collection of links.

A post that really stuck with me is this one by seperis. To quote:

Speaking for myself, sitting here in comfortable privilege and mulling how much new material I have to read, I'm ashamed that in this, I had nothing to lose and everything to gain and I've profited immensely by way of clicking links like some progressive online course. And I have to be grateful, and sickened by it.

This is so true. And it's not just this one instance. It seems that every time there's an explosion of racism in fandom, I get to learn stuff. I find fascinating, worthwhile information from brilliant people. People of color? Well, they get stepped on and hurt.

Does that make me a bad person? No, of course not. Privilege 101: Having privilege does not make you a bad person. But it's something I need to keep in mind. Something that frustrates me.

That said, the least I can do is plug some lj communities that are trying to make a difference. 50books_poc challenges you to read fifty books written by people of color over the course of year. Or more than a year. Or read fifty short stories. Or keep count of the books you read that are written by people of color. Or just read books written by people of color and post reviews. The point is to read work by people of color. I want to fulfill the original challenge: fifty books in a year, but right now, with my school schedule, the idea of being able to finish a book for fun seems like a distant dream. But I'll make the effort. I read What I talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami earlier this year, and right now I'm in the middle of The Wind Done Gone by Alice Randall.

Also, Verb Noire is a small press publisher dedicated to celebrating "the works of talented, underrepresented authors and deliver them to a readership that demands more." They're currently accepting submissions. Check them out!

Ok, I should probably get started on tidying up the condo, just a little.

So, they're making an Avatar: The Last Airbender live action movie. Pretty cool, no? Well you might think so... until you saw the cast. They're all white. Every last one of the main characters. Yes, even Katara and Sokka

One of the great things about Avatar is that the setting isn't the same old "vaguely European" fantasy setting. It's based on Eastern cultures, and not just "the exotic Orient." The clothes, the food, the architecture is all based off of different Asian civilizations.

And the cast for the live action movie is white, when they weren't in the show.

Does everybody get why this is a problem? Does everybody understand the paucity of people of color in entertainment, especially in fantasy? And Avatar is a show that's all about people of color. This is a chance a people of color (especially children) to see people who look like them. But that's been abandoned in favor of "Oh no, white people would never see a movie featuring people who's skin is less than ivory." (And am I the only white person who finds that frankly offensive? The racism is the real issue here, but the implication that I am far too shallow and stupid to identify with characters who don't share my skin color is insulting.)

Naturally, there are people defending the casting. Privileged people will defend anything.

"Isn't talent more important than race?" The biggest problem with this is that it implies that there aren't any good POC actors available. It assumes that people of color who tried out couldn't make the cut, rather than there being racism in the audition and casting process. There are plenty of POC actors. Good ones. But instead, M. Night Shyamalan cast all white people. Plus, do you really think that any of the actors chosen are so absolutely astounding that there were no other suitable options? I mean, really?

"But I don't see Aang and Zuko as Asian." Good for you. Nice to see that the "white=default" assumption is still in place. (And by "nice," I mean "rage inducing.") But given that everything else in the Avatar world is Asian influenced, it's a rather logical to assume that the characters would look Asian. And, really, the alternative is much worse. White characters decked out in entirely Asian trappings? Can you say "cultural appropriation"? Good, I knew you could.

"It sucks, but then again, the whole movie is going to suck." Okay, bad acting and crummy action scenes or whatever? Make a movie suck. Casting characters of color as entirely white? Makes a movie racist. There is a difference in the degree of bad. (Hint: racism is worse.)

"It's not that big a deal. Why do you people care so much?" Because we don't like racism. End of story.

And my favorite, I saved it for last: "Even if the actors don't have the right skin color for Katara and Sokka, they can just wear makeup."

Yes! Yes, indeed the perfect solution! Just slather some paint on and put them in black face! And then we can tape up Aang and Zuko's eyes and make them squint a whole bunch! Hollywood used to do that all of the time! I wonder why they stopped?

BECAUSE IT'S FUCKING RACIST! I have trouble finding the words to express this. If you can't understand that yellow face is not the solution, then I'm not sure that we have any common ground.

What to do if you're pissed off by this? Well, there a letter writing campaign over at aang_aint_white. Write (...I originally typed that as "white") to Paramount studios. Write to the media. Write to Shyamalan's company. Or you could make am lj post about it. Or you could just bring up the problem when talking about the movie. It really isn't hard.

Yeah, I think that I'm done for now.

So, we're going to do this in order of most to least important.

How do you know that your campaign has become nothing but a cesspool of despicable dishonesty and mudslinging, proving that the only way you can win is to lie about your opponent? When Karl freaking Rove says that you've "gone too far." That's right, Karl Rove, hypocrite extraordinaire, sometimes referred to as "Bush's brain" believes that McCain and his campaign have taken the dishonesty to ridiculous levels. And he's right. (Wow, I just said that Karl Rove is right. Is that a sign of the apocalypse?) McCain's ads have accused Obama of being a child molester (no, really) and the Antichrist (no, really). He's misrepresented, oh fuck that, he's lied about Obama's voting record.

Can anyone in good conscious really vote for this piece of slime? I know that I can't. (Well, I couldn't have before, but you know what I mean.)

Oh, because I don't want to be one of the two people who hasn't linked to this: Tim Rice's brilliant take on how racism and white privilege is influencing this presidential race. (I mean, you know, besides the really obvious.)

http://www.thetaskforce.org/press/releases/pr_050708?tr=y&auid=3650933

National Gay and Lesbian Task Force mourns death of Mildred Loving

May 07, 2008

MEDIA CONTACT:
Roberta Sklar, Communications Director
(Office) 646.358.1465
(Cell) 917.704.6358
rsklar@theTaskForce.org

WASHINGTON, May 7 — The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force mourns the death of Mildred Loving, whose challenge to Virginia's ban on interracial marriage led to the landmark 1967 Supreme Court ruling striking down such laws nationwide. Loving died May 2 at the age of 68.

Loving issued a statement last year on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the Loving v. Virginia decision, in which she wrote: “I believe all Americans, no matter their race, no matter their sex, no matter their sexual orientation, should have that same freedom to marry. Government has no business imposing some people’s religious beliefs over others.”

Statement by Rea Carey, Acting Executive Director
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force

“The Task Force mourns the death of Mildred Loving, a woman who never asked to be in the spotlight, but who courageously stepped forth in the face of overwhelming injustice to help right an egregious wrong.

“Mrs. Loving and her husband, Richard, did so despite enormous personal sacrifice — they were arrested, convicted and exiled from their home state of Virginia because she was black, he was white, and their marriage was prohibited by law.

“With tremendous strength and grace, the Lovings challenged the immorality of anti-miscegenation laws that sought to deprive Americans of one of the most personal decisions they would ever make: whom to marry. In doing so, the Lovings altered history for the better.

“Even in her later years, Mrs. Loving continued to speak for marriage equality, stating that ‘all Americans, no matter their race, no matter their sex, no matter their sexual orientation, should have that same freedom to marry.’ We are deeply saddened by her passing. Our community has lost a courageous ally.”

I, Too, Sing America
by Langston Hughes


I, too, sing America.

I am the darker brother.
They send me to eat in the kitchen
When company comes,
But I laugh,
And eat well,
And grow strong.

Tomorrow,
I'll be at the table
When company comes.
Nobody'll dare
Say to me,
"Eat in the kitchen,"
Then.

Besides,
They'll see how beautiful I am
And be ashamed--

I, too, am America.