Sorry, I obviously misread that part of your post and missed the connection between getting jumped and what you said to the kids to crowded you. I apologise for that.

At the same time, surely you understand why “I’m not racist but” in the context of what you yourself admit is easily read as bigotry doesn’t actually soften your words much?

Because what you’re saying is “IBARW is only valid if people blog about what I want.” And that’s a pretty entitled position to take. Because, just like most of the internet, people blog about what they want. It’s not like folk are handing out cards for IBARW saying ‘you will blog about this’.

Incidentally, perhaps you’re not following IBARW very much (given your opinion of it, that’s fair enough), but there have been some great posts, by POC, about racism by POC. And there was a huge outcry about Kenneth Eng, who wrote in a fairly widely-read paper for Asian Americans about ‘why he hates black people’, and particularly since then there’s been some really interesting discussion going on online about racism between Asian folk and Black folk.

Also, it doesn’t justify what happened to you, but there are complex discussions to be had about POC/white interracial dating from the point of view of POC. And I’m saying this as an Asian/white woman dating a white man (and that conversation gets nasty real quick, believe me). No, it doesn’t justify heaping on individuals for their choices of partner, or telling people they ‘can’t', but there are reasons that I understand why there are problems. Because there *are* problems with fetishization; there are problems with it being constantly fed to us (everyone) that white is the standard of attractiveness, and patterns of POC who only date white people feed off and into that dynamic. This is what I mean about context. To boil that entire dynamic down to a KKK-like issue of racial purity is to miss a whole heap of context re: institutionalised racism.

i would never have to say to a person i know in real life that i am not racist - but online, yeah, i do. because if i DONT say it, my original comment is taken for a nice bit of bigoted blogging. of course, when i do point out that i am not racist, i get told what you said. that what i am saying DOESN’T MATTER. because only white people are apparently racists, everyone else cant be, and to call a black person or an asian or a mexican racist just means that i am wrong, right?

what i have been talking about, if you even care, is the fact that the ONLY racism that is attacked is the racism of those who appear white. not a thing was ever done to those girls who jumped me - it was my fault, for dating a black guy, and i should know better.

want to blog against racism, i say “YAY” - just against ALL of it, please. but, as usual, asking for that gets me told that i have no clue what i am talking about; i will be told that i have never been the victim of racism and have never been discriminated against. and when i tell how i have been, i will again be told that i am wrong, that bruises and a broken arm are NICE things

Here’s a tip. If you have to say how non-racist you are, chances are you’re doing it wrong. Using the comments of a post about white privilege to talk about how it’s oh so hard looking white and how racist POC are? That’s part of doing it wrong.

And really, given everyone who pulls out the ‘POC are racist too - it’s their fault’ canard talks about how it’s oh so hard to say because the evil powerful PC police or whatever will come and get you, there must be something about this stuff that makes you brave and untouchable, because I’ve seen it come up in pretty much every discussion of race politics, and funnily enough, none of the people who spout this stuff get their heads kicked in. They don’t get death threats. WOC bloggers deal with death and rape threats like it’s in the damn job description. But hey, it’s the PC police that’s oppressing everyone, right?

Look, seriously. If you don’t understand the concept of institutional power (which seems patently obvious, given your comment), just say so. Because no, flipping it over isn’t always (note, I said “isn’t always”, not “is never”) going to be defined the same way. Not because POC get ‘free passes’, but because context is important. And institutional power is part of that context.

i’m trying to think of how to say what is on my mind without, myself, sounding like a racists bitch. its funny, because i am one of the least racist people i have ever met, and that is what makes people think that i AM racist.

because i don’t give free passes.

example? years ago, when i was in high school, i was dating a guy. we were mobbed by about 30 of the black kids that we went to school with. the gist of their message was that Tim’s dad was black, so he was black, and he couldn’t date me because i was white.
I, of course, opened my mouth. I pointed out that A) his mother was white and B) was actually whiter than *I* am, because i am half Cherokee and C) they all sounded like they should go and join the KKK, they were that bigoted.

and i was jumped by six girls after school.

this was FOURTEEN YEARS AGO, and this stuff still happens. i have known racists of every stripe and creed - and the only ones who are punished for it are white, or appear white.
what is a ghetto? well, actually its the area of a town that JEWS were forced to live in for centuries; whats a Thug? a follower of Kali/a member of a Thugee cult; whats a gangster? a member of the Mob.
and yet a girl i mentor was harrassed because she listens to rap music, and so she was “stealing Black culture”

i’m ALL about stopping racism. i WOULD love to be able to walk down the street with my boyfriend and not get nasty looks because i am white and he is black. i would DEARLY love to go out and NOT be told by some guy that its okay to sleep with him - i’m already sleeping with one black guy, right? it would be WONDERFUL, when i am with my sister and her husband, to NOT hear how she “must have married him just so he could get his citizenship”, because somehow now ALL Mexicans are illegal aliens.

but, the thing is, its not me that is having the problem. its also probably not you, either. there is a fine line between equality and entitlement - the color of my skin doesn’t get *ME* a free pass, and shouldn’t for anyone else. racism has set back so many other issues i can’t even list them all. and what it boils down to, in stark, cold reality, is that social change takes longer than legal change. i’m a woman - i DO know wherof i speak. Black men could vote HOW many decades before ANY women? hell, it wasn’t until the 1910s that women could legally handle their own money! even now, even on college campuses, even in classes where i get Straight A’s, my intelligence and ability to reason are questioned.

so yeah, its blog against racism week. and it pisses me off, because most of the racism i see - the actual acts of racism - aren’t done by white people. i have seen Blacks, Asians or Latinos hired over a more qualified white person, because a business is afraid of being sued. i have seen, with my own two eyes, a guy get fired for 3 no call-no shows, and then turn around and sue the company for discrimination, because he was Black. and to fire anyone but a white person, for any reason, can get you sued. i watched guys tell girls that to not sleep with them makes them (the girls) bigots. i saw, on national TV, and black woman blow up at a white woman over the phrase “slaving over the stove” (a phrase thats been in use for forever, and represents that subordinate position of most women most places) and call her racist - while AT THE SAME TIME calling the white woman “a dumb blonde” and similar; things that would be racists if they were spoken to anyone who WASN’T white.

what are we blogging against?