dumbthingswhitepplsay:

biyuti:

dumbthingswhitepplsay:

biyuti:

dumbthingswhitepplsay:

White-passing people can still be oppressive toward non-passing brethren, and I’m not inclined to give them any passes because when shit hits the fan, it’ll be me on the chopping block.

How many times have we seen white Latin@s on here talmabout “I’m Mexican, you dumb nigger” as if their virtue of being from a country that brown people live in somehow makes that not oppressive?

Too many.

My first priority is the protection of the people at the bottom.

Frankly, no one, not even WHITE people, should be claiming whiteness anyway. European heritage is one thing, claiming “whiteness” is another. In addition, the entire way that discourse is rolling seems like it’s going to turn out to be a way to silence non-passing PoC.

Like with George Zimmerman. He was white, living, working, existing as such, until he was called racist, then his Latin@ heritage magically had a purpose and magically became relevant.

It’s too common, it’s too easy for that to happen, and the results of such could be extremely damaging to the darkies at the bottom.

Then again, I don’t know. It’s not like I personally get a choice to be anything but Black, even other things that I actually am.

I suppose one way to think about it is, if whiteness claims you (even if conditionally and for the sole reason of using you as a tool to oppress other people), saying you don’t ‘claim it’ doesn’t really serve much purpose or good.

Disavowing it in this context really means that you end up erasing your function as a tool of whiteness. Something that is actively involved in how people are being hurt.

Because, at the end of the day, I could probably still choose to ID as something other than Filipin@ (maybe french canadian, like my mom), change my name, and fully assimilate to whiteness (and we all know that one quick way to assimilate to whiteness is by being anti-Black.).

And the bold indicates: having this choice is a giant fucking privilege that many darker skinned PoC don’t have.

Yeah, the bold is exactly how I feel about it. What does it matter to the bottom if you claim white or not…it’s not like going around saying you don’t claim it is going to matter when it comes to whether you can oppress others or not, you know?

All of this to say, that how you behave and act matters a lot more than how you identify.

No one cares what words you use…

Only if you are shitting on people and being an (passive or active) participant in their oppression.

Pretty much…which is why I don’t think that new words are necessary.

Only assholes have trouble with the words themselves. Where the trouble comes from is the treatment.

Treatment, true. I’d push it further as to say that white folks/white passing folks need to be active participants in the anti-oppression movement, LED BY POC/queers/poor folks etc. You can’t just not be a dick. What kind of humanity is that?

(via biyuti)