"People who are oppressed tend to know it and are familiar with their oppressors"
I agree. But then I suppose we need to talk about how we're definig oppression. I find the notion that white people are black people's de facto oppressors forevermore, just because we have black skin and they don't, to be deeply condescending. There was a ti…
"People who are oppressed tend to know it and are familiar with their oppressors"
I agree. But then I suppose we need to talk about how we're definig oppression. I find the notion that white people are black people's de facto oppressors forevermore, just because we have black skin and they don't, to be deeply condescending. There was a time when you could make that argument convincingly. But that time is not 2022.
In 2022, some black people are still oppressed by systems and the legacy of those systems. Some white people too actually, thogh far fewer I'd say. But white people as a demographic are not that system.
Most of the peope I see claiming that they're oppressed today are generally extraordinarily privileged and have no idea what oppression is. Which is why they can make such a mistake.
I agree. There are many varieties of oppression. In this particular case I was referring to racial oppression, acts that strengthen the system of white supremacy under which we live, a system that burst open under Trump. These acts lie on a spectrum from “microaggression” to the murder of George Floyd. Likewise banning Black-authored books and Black history in general, gerrymandering away the right to vote, etc. I’m not talking about demographics or individuals, and definitely not a system that must last forever. A system of power exercised and supported by millions of white Americans, sometimes unconsciously, to the general detriment of Black people. The degree to which people buy into the system depends on how they intersect with structural racism. My experiences in the civil rights and farmworkers’ struggles taught me that not all whites are racist, but most all racists are white. Many white people have risked and given their lives in the Freedom Movement. Unfortunately, they are the exception.
"People who are oppressed tend to know it and are familiar with their oppressors"
I agree. But then I suppose we need to talk about how we're definig oppression. I find the notion that white people are black people's de facto oppressors forevermore, just because we have black skin and they don't, to be deeply condescending. There was a time when you could make that argument convincingly. But that time is not 2022.
In 2022, some black people are still oppressed by systems and the legacy of those systems. Some white people too actually, thogh far fewer I'd say. But white people as a demographic are not that system.
Most of the peope I see claiming that they're oppressed today are generally extraordinarily privileged and have no idea what oppression is. Which is why they can make such a mistake.
I agree. There are many varieties of oppression. In this particular case I was referring to racial oppression, acts that strengthen the system of white supremacy under which we live, a system that burst open under Trump. These acts lie on a spectrum from “microaggression” to the murder of George Floyd. Likewise banning Black-authored books and Black history in general, gerrymandering away the right to vote, etc. I’m not talking about demographics or individuals, and definitely not a system that must last forever. A system of power exercised and supported by millions of white Americans, sometimes unconsciously, to the general detriment of Black people. The degree to which people buy into the system depends on how they intersect with structural racism. My experiences in the civil rights and farmworkers’ struggles taught me that not all whites are racist, but most all racists are white. Many white people have risked and given their lives in the Freedom Movement. Unfortunately, they are the exception.