Do You Know What Bugs Me?
This is in fact something that bugs me the most concerning Tumblr and its vouch for 'equality.' It is that they imply that it was only foreign nations that had their cultures destroyed by 'white men.' Let me give you a short-ish history lesson. The Welsh, who are probably some of the palest, white people you could come by, originally lived in tribes. Ever heard of the Celts? Well hello, they were my ancestors. We went to war naked painted in blue, redheaded and lived in huts on top of hills speaking a language that I speak still with great pride. It is in fact one of the oldest languages to still exist, no thanks to the English and the Romans. To imply that white people have no culture to begin with is wrong. Because Wales is white, and our culture stretches as far back as the Egyptians and the Chinese if not, further. Sure it's not as sophisticated, but we have ancient old songs, a beautiful language that is still spoken, the oldest still used flag in the world...music, poetry... Ever heard of Celtic oppression? Probably not considering a large majority don't believe that anything white knows oppression. Well guess what, the Celts were horrifically oppressed. Not just the Welsh ones, but the Scots and the Irish too (the Irish were actually enslaved by Oliver Cromwell so yes, a large majority of the slaves taken over to the New World were in fact white.) We had our land taken away because the English required more space for their cattle and more land; we were punished; beaten for speaking our language; we were called savages and animals; aliens. We were oppressed. We are often taught in school about the famous Welsh Not. Now this was something that was still happening in the late 1800s. They set up schools and made us speak English, whoever was caught speaking Welsh would have the Welsh Not sign hung around their necks and, whoever was left wearing it at the end of the day, would receive a beating. Keep in mind that a lot of these children had no knowledge whatsoever of the English language either... They tried to kill our language, not just our culture or our way of life. But our language too. In fact, in 1866, The Times themselves named Welsh "the curse of Wales" and they were defended for this. Defended for it: "the sooner that the Welsh language disappears as an instrument of the practical, political, social life of Wales, the better." We were in fact compared to the Native Americans who at the time were less than human which too is disgusting. Not just for the Celts, but for the indigenous tribes of America. So to tell me that white people don't know oppression is ignorant. And it still happens now. It still happens - Jeremy Clarkson goes around saying that the Welsh language should be eradicated, red hair is still ridiculed. So to tell me that white people are not oppressed angers me as a Welsh person. Because my people have gone through a hell of their own with the prospect of losing their culture and identity. Irish celts even through slavery. When you speak of white people being privileged, yes, as a whole today, we are in comparison. But be more specific when you say that we have never known oppression. In fact, what do you really mean when you say white?