I have a lot of white friends who feel that social justice warriors and activists (such as yours truly), direct their movement on and against white people and those who dont face oppression. Even among those who are “socially conscious” - the argument pops up now and then.
And we- seasoned veterns in the war against anti-oppression- know the battle has already been lost
But can we really blame those who claim that "female privilege", "reverse racism" or "cisphobia" are forms of oppression as well? I mean I don't think they willfully ignorant, I just think they are mistaken. We've all had internalized oppressive ideas and values.
Now lets tackle to dispell these ideas, starting with reverse racism because that is by far, the most common misconception. One of my friends claims that social justice warriors are racist against white people because all our work is designed to not benefit the average white person.
Some people simplify racism as one group not liking another, and think “racist” and “prejudiced” are interchangeable. But racism is a concept that operates on both an individual and institutional level. At its core, racism is a system in which a dominant race benefits off the oppression of others — whether they want to or not. We don’t live in a society where every racial group has equal power, status, and opportunity. Yes, white people all over the world and throughout history have experienced atrocities like slavery and persecution. But in the very specific context of American history, white people have not been enslaved, colonized, or forced to segregate on the scale that black people have. They do not face housing or job discrimination, police brutality, poverty, or incarceration at the level that black people do.This is not to say that they do not experience things like poverty and police brutality at all. But again, not on the same scale — not even close.That is the reality of racism. Its heirarchical. Dominant or privileged groups benefit, often in unconscious ways, from the disempowerment of subordinated or targeted groups. A common argument made by white folk that has absolutely no merit is affirmative action. They argue that affirmative action is a prime example of reverse racism because it privileges PoC and disadvantages whites. They believe deserving white students are discriminated against while academically unqualified students are given highly coveted college or company positions ― just because they happen to tick the “ethnic minority” box. This argument ignores the fact that affirmative action did not come out of nowhere ― there was a need for a system that would address the decades of underrepresentation of people of color both academically and in the job world. Also, purely factually speaking even now, white college students are 40% more likely to get private scholarships than mminorities. And although 62% of college students in America are white, they recieve 69% of all private scholarships!!!! whattttttttttttt Heres a fun video of a comedian explaining exactly what would have to happen in order for racism against white people to exist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dw_mRaIHb-M
