#-mod naruhearts
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Please don't take this the wrong way, but you realize that this show is explicitly about the poor, Midwestern white male experience? They lack privilege on multiple levels which the show explores (sa m the janitor, Dean the grunt), and all of the queer issues stem almost directly from the poor white male's low level of self determination/ agency or the perception thereof I'm a poor whitish person from a similar area, and it feels unique to see a poor white show that isn't Roseanne.
Hi nonnie,
I have a lot of things to say in response to your message — which does display ignorance of societal organization across systemic racial lines — but without creating a huge extensive post, here are some crucial points to consider:
- The “poor Midwestern white male experience” does NOT discount the insulated bubble of white privilege that Sam and Dean Winchester occupy, and neither is Supernatural immune from racist narratives and/or racist character implementation (especially ‘cause SPN has predominantly white production crew/writers around the table. Again, any literary narrative or script they conceive can and most likely will be influenced by internalized unconscious white dominance —> white-painted narratives perceived by POC viewers. I mean, scour this blog/google ‘Supernatural and racism’ and you’ll get the picture.)
- Additionally, stating that the show is “explicitly about” the poor Midwestern white male experience is false. Yes, you’re a poor white person from a similar area, and so you believe that, as a white person, the show’s premise reflects your experience. However, your statement doesn’t represent reality. The racial blind spot here is: media consumption by (realities of) white people will not equate to media consumption by (realities of) POC.
As I said here, we cannot talk about other systemic forces like socioeconomic class without addressing race. Race is inherently interweaved into other structural dimensions. It’s why BIPOC (Black Indigenous POC) + POC are: statistically paid less than white employees, unequally treated in terms of job capability, encounter unconscious bias across the hiring market, struggle to find jobs, unable to afford three-story suburban houses, and can never seem to find favour no matter how hard we work.
Reni Eddo-Lodge reiterates what white privilege is. When we say ‘white privilege’, we aren’t referring to white people always having it easy, or living in the lap of material wealth (but economic race disparities are instrinsically linked to material wealth), or lacking suffering, or living in poverty.
White privilege: the unearned set of societal benefits, advantages, and positive attitudes/behaviours bestowed upon white people solely because they are white (because of the pale/white colour of their skin). Claiming that Sam and Dean “lack privilege on multiple levels” perpetuates the continuous erasure of the POC reality, as well as intersectional BI+POC realities (being PoC, queer, and disabled, etc). What’s our reality? We actually lack privilege on multiple levels because of the colour of our skin. Your claim could imply that white privilege isn’t a thing, but it is. Think of white privilege as the air we breathe: it’s there, and we’re surrounded by it, and we breathe it in, yet because air is mostly invisible, some people aren’t always aware of it until you tell ‘em “Hey dude, did you know you’re inhaling oxygen?” The answer would be: “Obviously. Idk why you’re pointing that out - I already know that. You saying I’m dumb?” (lol not too far off from white defensiveness, right?) White people are so used to their privilege that they feel weird, ‘uncomfortable’ and ‘unsafe’ once people of colour point out their privilege. They subconsciously (and consciously) refuse to lose their place at the top. They’ll be offended.
To address your message, specifically — Sam and Dean hold white privilege as white men despite being poor. This is an uncomfortable fact that white SPN audiences must acknowledge.
If translated into real life, Sam and Dean will walk inside a bar and not be suspected of crime at first glance. They won’t look suspicious. They won’t get physically assaulted, shot at, killed, and/or lynched, both by police and fellow white men. They can speak, eat, and behave however they please without getting kicked out. They’ll chase after people they wanna bang or make inappropriate moves without being accused of sexual harrassment; BI+POC are typically falsely accused. (*Bonus Salt incoming* Sam and Dean won’t die permanently on their own show. The BI+PoC allies they have are often killed off to forward their plot and channel white manpain, then embody racist narrative tropes. As an Asian, Kevin Tran’s Stereotypical-Asian presence upset me, and his death further hurt my sensibilities. It did not shock me at all to see yet another Asian character killed off. Again, I must mention the horrible Asian-fetishist-exotificating Busty Asian Beauties, as well. Heck, S8 episode title “What’s Up Tiger Mommy?” was blatantly racist that I can’t believe no one demanded they change the episode premise + Kevin and Linda Tran’s characterizations. JUST KIDDING, of course I know why no one emphasized the issue - there are barely any BI+PoC in the writer’s room. This is why hiring us must become important).
Unfortunately - and unlike your opinion - Supernatural is not “unique” for us BI+PoC fans. It’s a show manned by predominantly white cast/crew that centralizes two white men and their respective narrow realities. We don’t live in a bubble. We’re everywhere. Depict us properly, with cultural/racial sensitivity, in entertainment, media, art forms, and more. Acknowledge our lack of privilege on multiple levels.
We live within a society set up for people of colour to fail. Whiteness is the default, and the privilege intrinsically linked to that ensconces an entire array of political, social, cultural and economic structures advantaging white people while disadvantaging People of Colour.
You’re a poor white person. I’m not, and the likelihood of the white poor person being given an opportunity to escape poverty is statistically MUCH, MUCH higher than the likelihood of poor POC to escape poverty.
#mod naruhearts#mod: naruhearts#-mod naruhearts#ask#spn + racism#fandom racism#white privilege#white fragility#supernatural#racism
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FCS Article of the Day || Jan 16 2019 || -Mod @naruhearts
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Antiracism and America
White people assume niceness is the answer to racial inequality. It's not.
by Robin DiAngelo
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I am white. As an academic, consultant and writer on white racial identity and race relations, I speak daily with other white people about the meaning of race in our lives. These conversations are critical because, by virtually every measure, racial inequality persists, and institutions continue to be overwhelmingly controlled by white people.
While most of us see ourselves as “not racist”, we continue to reproduce racist outcomes and live segregated lives.
In the racial equity workshops I lead for American companies, I give participants one minute, uninterrupted, to answer the question: “How has your life been shaped by your race?” This is rarely a difficult question for people of color, but most white participants are unable to answer. I watch as they flail, some giving up altogether and waiting out the time, unable to sustain 60 seconds of this kind of reflection. This inability is not benign, and it certainly is not innocent. Suggesting that whiteness has no meaning creates an alienating – even hostile – climate for people of color working and living in predominantly white environments, and it does so in several ways.
If I cannot tell you what it means to be white, I cannot understand what it means not to be white. I will be unable to bear witness to, much less affirm, an alternate racial experience. I will lack the critical thinking and skills to navigate racial tensions in constructive ways. This creates a culture in which white people assume that niceness is the answer to racial inequality and people of color are required to maintain white comfort in order to survive.
An inability to grapple with racial dynamics with any nuance or complexity is ubiquitous in younger white people who have been raised according to an ideology of colorblindness. I have been working with large tech companies whose average employees are under 30 years old. White employees are typically dumbfounded when their colleagues of color testify powerfully in these sessions to the daily slights and indignities they endure and the isolation they feel in overwhelmingly white workplaces. This pain is especially acute for African Americans, who tend to be the least represented.
“How often will a white person accused of racism gather as evidence to the contrary friends and colleagues to testify to their niceness?”
While the thin veneer of a post-racial society that descended during the Obama years has been ripped away by our current political reality, most white people continue to conceptualize racism as isolated and individual acts of intentional meanness. This definition is convenient and comforting, in that it exempts so many white people from the system of white supremacy we live in and are shaped by. It is at the root of the most common kind of white defensiveness. If racists are intentionally and openly mean, then it follows that nice people cannot be racist. How often will a white person accused of racism gather as evidence to the contrary friends and colleagues to testify to their niceness; the charge cannot be true, the friend cannot be racist, because “he’s a really nice guy” or “she volunteers on the board of a non-profit serving under-privileged youth”. Not meaning to be racist also allows for absolution. If they didn’t mean it, it cannot and should not count.
Thus, it becomes essential for white people to quickly and eagerly telegraph their niceness to people of color. Niceness in these instances is conveyed through tone of voice (light), eye contact accompanied by smiling and the conjuring of affinities (shared enjoyment of a music genre, compliments on hair or style, statements about having traveled to the country the “other” is perceived to have come from or knowing people from the other’s community). Kindness is compassionate and often implicates actions to support or intervene. For example, I am having car trouble and you stop and see if you can help. I appear upset after a work meeting and you check in and listen with the intent of supporting me. Niceness, by contrast, is fleeting, hollow and performative.
In addition to niceness, proximity is seen as evidence of a lack of racism. Consider the claims many white people give to establish that they aren’t racist: “I work in a diverse environment.” “I know and/or love people of color.” “I was in the Peace Corps.” “I live in a large urban city.” These are significant because they reveal what we think it means to be racist. If I can tolerate (and especially if I enjoy and value) proximity, claims of proximity maintain, I must not be racist; a “real” racist cannot stand to be near people of color, let alone smile or otherwise convey friendliness.
In a 1986 article about black students and school success, Signithia Fordham and John Ogbu describe a “fictive kinship” between African Americans, a kinship that is not consanguineal (by blood) or affinal but derived from the assumption of shared experience. The racial kinship white people attempt to draw from niceness might be seen as a false or fabricated affinity. Most white people live segregated lives and in fact have no lasting cross-racial relationships. We are in the position to choose segregation and often do. The claims of non-racism that we make are therefore based on the most superficial of shared experiences: passing people of color on the street of large cities and going to lunch on occasion with a co-worker.
Note that our cursory friendliness does not come without strings. Consider the case of a white California woman who called the police this past May when a group of black Airbnb guests did not return her smile. The expectation is that the “nod of approval”, the white smile, will be reciprocated. This woman, like all the other white people who have called the police on people of color for non-existent offenses, vigorously denied she was racist. After all, she did smile and wave before reporting them.
I have heard many black Americans talk about the awkwardness of white people “over-smiling”. The act is meant to convey acceptance and approval while maintaining moral integrity, but actually conveys white racial anxiety. Over-smiling allows us to mask an anti-blackness that is foundational to our very existence as white. A fleeting benevolence, of course, has no relation to how black people are actually undermined in white spaces. Black friends have often told me that they prefer open hostility to niceness. They understand open hostility and can protect themselves as needed. But the deception of niceness adds a confusing layer that makes it difficult for people of color to decipher trustworthy allyship from disingenuous white liberalism. Gaslighting ensues.
The default of the current system is the reproduction of racial inequality. To continue reproducing racial inequality, the system only needs for white people to be really nice and carry on – to smile at people of color, to go to lunch with them on occasion. To be clear, being nice is generally a better policy than being mean. But niceness does not bring racism to the table and will not keep it on the table when so many of us who are white want it off. Niceness does not break with white solidarity and white silence. In fact, naming racism is often seen as not nice, triggering white fragility.
We can begin by acknowledging ourselves as racial beings with a particular and limited perspective on race. We can attempt to understand the racial realities of people of color through authentic interaction rather than through the media or through unequal relationships. We can insist that racism be discussed in our workplaces and a professed commitment to racial equity be demonstrated by actual outcomes. We can get involved in organizations working for racial justice. These efforts require that we continually challenge our own socialization and investments in racism and put what we profess to value into the actual practice of our lives. This takes courage, and niceness without strategic and intentional anti-racist action is not courageous.
#long post for ts#white fragility#the guardian#racism#fandom racism#adjacent#-Mod naruhearts#whoops posted to wrong blog oh well
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Our revised shipping schedule!
Hi everyone! In a previous post, we mentioned that we had begun the packing process for our books and that our goal was to ship out all books by May 31, 2021. However, due to some unfortunate real life stuff happening, we fell significantly behind, and as we always strive do when things like this happen, we wanted to give you all a swift update about when to expect these books.
Pictured above, 200+ books that we packaged from May 29-31. All these books have been sent out now via Canada Post. Canadian and U.S. residents whose books were sent out today will receive these books within the next two weeks, if not sooner. International residents can expect to receive them within 4-12 weeks depending on their country of origin (please check the Canada Post website for more details about this).
From May 29 to May 31, mods @justholdingstill, @destimushi, @pray4jensen, @casthewise, @naruhearts and @ravenscat-tumbler all congregated at pray4jensen’s house to begin a massive packing weekend. It was also a reunion of sorts. Many of us had not seen each other in person since a Christmas party in December 2019 and, before we could meet up once more, the Covid-19 pandemic came swinging in full force in 2020. Believe it or not, we fundraised this project on Indiegogo while social distancing. We consulted with vendors, ordered merch and organized 800+ orders all while working virtually over Zoom. One of our much beloved mods @dusky-rambles coordinated from India, and it was with great sadness that she couldn’t join us for these packing sessions due to Canada’s border closures. Our other mod @thebloggerbloggerfun similarly has been in the U.S. and unable to cross the border.
To say the least, this whole journey was not at all what we envisioned when we first started, and we’re proud to say that despite all the hurdles that we had to overcome during this trying time, we made it! We’ve had a steady flood of pictures of books reaching their destinations, and we couldn’t be happier and more thrilled to see them in their new homes! And please, if you do post to social media, tag us! We really, really want to see your photos, your bookshelves, your faces, and we can’t wait to retweet/reblog them!
So...on to packing. As we just mentioned, we had a slew of personal life difficulties recently which slowed the packing process considerably. More than one mod last week had a family member unexpectedly pass away. We know everybody has been waiting for these books for a long time so in between funerals and grief, we all pushed on despite this, but we’re going to be honest—it’s been hard. We also had some difficulty scheduling a time where everybody could meet up—even when we thought we were all free, something inevitably would come up which reduced the number of hands we had on deck. Balancing full-time work, full-time school, and full-time family lives while working on this full-time not-for-profit project has been tough, but we promise we’re going as fast as we humanely can.
We won’t lie. Packing in itself has been quite a challenge. Some things we didn’t expect: a looot of back pain, sore muscles from lifting these heavy AF books, the immensely time-consuming task of generating mailing labels and invoices for customs agents, and so on and so forth. On these three packing days, we worked 10-12 hours straight, barely had time for bathroom breaks or food (turns out eating 8 potato chips and 2 strawberries for the entire day isn’t enough to sustain oneself). We also had fun! We laughed, we basked in the much needed socialization after a long and lonely year, relieved that we were all vaccinated with our first doses of Pfizer and Moderna, and that we could finally see a light at the end of this tunnel.
What we’re asking for now is patience and support, something we’ve always gotten from you lovely folks, but something we need for just a teensy bit longer. We will post to all our social media when we finish shipping all books, so please hold off on messages to confirm whether your package has shipped until we say that we’re done. We totally understand the anxiety and fear of missing parcels and orders, and we promise that we are being as thorough as possible when shipping your order, with multiple checks in place to make sure all information and items are correct. For folks who have changed their addresses, rest assured that Canada Post has your latest address, but that we were not able to update your address on Indiegogo or Big Cartel. For this reason, please don’t worry if you get an email from Indiegogo or Big Cartel with your old shipping address. Your book is on the way to the correct address.
Now on to our revised shipping schedule. As we mentioned in our previous update, our priority to ship out orders is as follows: Indiegogo physical copy backers first (highest-priced tiers go out first), then Big Cartel physical copy backers, and finally, last but not least, once all physical orders have shipped, we will ship out all digital E-books.
A tentative schedule (subject to change):
Week of June 14: All Indiegogo backer orders will have been shipped
Week of June 28: All Big Cartel orders and digital E-books will have been shipped
What we’re hoping to do is be faster than this. All Indiegogo orders, for example, have actually been packaged already (yes, we really did package 500+ orders this weekend!), but as we mentioned before, generating the mailing label and invoice takes time—we’re only able to ship these out once both those tasks have been accomplished. For that reason, our revised schedule is meant to take into account any further unexpected delays and what we really hope is that we will actually finish shipping out all orders in two or three weeks time.
We’re also a little hindered by Canada Post’s pick-up limits. Understandably, since we’re just some really passionate fans whose undying love for Dean and Cas’ relationship has inspired us to undertake this project, we don’t have the budget to have things that a business might have, like a forklift. For that reason, we’re technically only able to ship out a maximum of 50 orders a day since we can’t book a bigger Canada Post truck (that’d require a loading dock, which we also don’t have :P). That said, our local Canada Post mailman has been phenomenal, and yesterday alone, he took 200+ orders despite the maximum limit—not only did he stuff the back of his truck full, but he also stuffed his passenger seat. The man’s a Destiel Hero, and he doesn’t even know it!!!
So TLDR? Like always, we’re trying our damn hardest to get these books out to you ASAP and we can’t wait ’til they’re in your hands (psst pleaseee tag us in your photos!).
So that’s that! A super longwinded update post as usual with the promise of more updates to come! :P
Much love,
your 8 Vancouver nerds
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rec one fic and one blog to your followers and send this to five other people, let's spread the love during this impromptu hiatus! ❤️
i’m gonna cheat right now and maybe do a little shameless promo by saying all the fics in the to hell + back anthology are the bomb and my fellow mods/dear friends are killing it; i rec their blogs wholeheartedly: @justholdingstill, @casthewise, @dusky-rambles, @naruhearts, @ravenscat-tumbler, @destimushi and @thebloggerbloggerfun
#boredombabbles#ask#anon#blog recs#also asdfghjkl i am planning to do a big follow forever/blog rec thing properly in a bit#i've just been distracted because i've been trying to get back home to vancouver from the east coast#today i'm rushing to finish packing and hopefully i will be home tmr night!!#praying my flight doesn't get cancelled#or a lockdown happens#i'm terrified of getting stranded#anyway to get back to the point#please accept my slightly cheat answer#because i have been planning a bit of a blog celebration with recs and things for a long time#and it will be soon#just need things to calm down!#but also i love my friends a lot#pls follow them
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Would the POC members of the SPN community be amenable to tagging their posts on Tumblr/AO3 with a tag such as 'POC Creator' or 'POC SPN' in order to assist non-POC like myself and other POC fandom members in finding content created by POC fandom members?
I'd love to support more POC fandom members and to educate myself on representation via an actual POC, but I know that for safety concerns a lot of POC do not display their ethnicity on their profiles, and it seems horrifically rude to message people and ask.
I know this would potentially make it easier for assholes to find POC creators, but I'd really love to be able to support and interact more with the POC members of the fandom who've gone ignored and oppressed for so long.
Hi nonnie!
Wow, thanks for this - it’s a really interesting question!
Hm, safety concerns — and what POC perceive as unsafe — differ between individuals/groups of colour, but in general, as a POC I wouldn’t be amenable to identifying any of my fanworks as ‘POC-made’ via tags etc unless I make the conscious choice to do it on some days. Contexts and situations also matter. For example, I’m posting on a POC-run blog. The audience is BI/POC / white allies. So it’s logical for me to tag this as ‘poc’ or ‘mod: naruhearts’ (since I’ve made it clear that I’m POC). Another example is me self-identifying on twitter as a POC, which elevates my ethnic identity and allows me to carry out social activism + find other POC with whom to share solidarity and safe spaces; I’d use tags like #POCOpinions or #Filipinx4BlackLives (I use the latter more). Keep in mind that I do all this with the conscious thought that I’m opening myself up to white supremacy, but it’s still my autonomous choice to tag myself as such and form an online POC identity.
Fanfics and fancreations, however, can belong in a different realm. POC creators may or may not choose to make their POC and ethnic identit(ies) clear. I’d say that your job is to set aside assumptions. That includes assuming any person you come across within differing social platforms is white. It lies with you to advocate cultural awareness using your privilege, exercise cultural sensitivity, and dismantle any perceptions of Whiteness that may negatively impact your ability to engage with POC creators safely. On the other hand, it’s a fine line as well when it comes to the internet, since white people can absolutely disguise themselves and endanger POC.
If you want to support our communities without doing anything untoward as a white ally, a good place to start is to seek POC fanworks, businesses etc. How do they present themselves? What is important to them as creators/business owners? How do they engage with white audiences and allies? We may or may not want to draw any attention to ourselves. Then, one of the most important things you must do is ask. Ask POC what you can do to show your support/maintain our safety — what you can do to create safe POC spaces and tag systems — instead of making the suggestion first as a non-POC person. That way, you can present that your intentions are genuine, which paves the way for change.
#:) i hope i answered your q! I sorta jumped here and there#it’s a complex ongoing discussion especially because POC safety in online spaces is incredibly difficult and just as complex#Online fanwork arenas create unique situations for BIPOC/POC everywhere#supernatural#-mod naruhearts#mod: naruhearts#poc#fans of colour#bipoc#white allies#fandom racism#spn + racism#adjacent#racism#white supremacy#BIPOC creators#POC creators#ask
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So in yet another Bucklemming ep, they revisit the classically racist Busty Asian Beauties trope as some kind of throwback/nod. Just no. WHY is this still a thing?
#Nevertrustthese2whitewriters
#that was gross#worse#I hate that that craptastic very very very-barely decent ep is the ep we're left with for a while#supernatural#SPN + racism#racism#15x13#I also know it's been a while friends whew#spn s15#exotification#sexism#spn + sexism#woc#stop fucking doing this Bucklemming#it's engrained with these two particular writers smfh#I keep saying this - they should've left after racist-truck Route 666#>.>#-Mod naruhearts
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Ive gotta say, after reading your post yesterday, I watched a couple of episodes last night with new eyes. I love SPN but it's also fair to explore the ways that the show (and entertainment in general) can improve. Thanks for sharing!
👍🏾 Awesome! This is why our blog exists — to highlight the important issues of racial justice that a predominantly white/historically white-helmed entertainment industry (a generally white supremacist world) often sweeps under the rug.
Don’t get us wrong - we’re all SPN fans who adore the show, but in our eyes of colour, it’s fundamental to criticize and point out racial injustice in all its forms; it causes us racial pain and trauma to see us and our realities/stories/histories be mischaracterized, misrepresented, and improperly portrayed. For centuries, we weren’t - and aren’t - valued as much as white lives.
We exist. We should matter. We should be seen. Entertainment - especially media art forms like TV shows and pop culture - reflects reality in that they serve as mediums to perpetuate certain worldviews, perspectives, and belief systems. The White cishet male perspective always dominates - it can oppress, suppress and repress through media.
All lives can’t matter until Black lives matter - until BIPOC/POC lives matter.
#black lives matter#racism#spn + racism#white privilege#supernatural#intersectionality#-mod naruhearts#mod naruhearts#mod: naruhearts#great to know OP!#fandom racism#woc#bipoc narrative exclusion#ask#fangirlxwritesx67
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Hi everyone,
We acknowledge the followers we’ve gained today! ♥️
After the flurry of support, we also have an administrative addition to announce: please welcome @destiel-is-real-idgaf to our moderator team!
Again, we hope that this safe fandom space for constructive, productive dialogue elevates BIPOC fan folx voices continuously, and we must all work together to better ourselves.
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hi naruhearts! thank you soooo much for this blog. as a white person i want to do better and i know this is emotional labour for you, but i do ty for putting links that i can search up myself so u don’t have to educate me. i’m also glad j2m used their platforms. You’re an Asian supernatural fan and I’m sorry. i’m so sorry on behalf of white people who made it so hard for u and black people and other poc in this fandom. I’ve seen ugly things :/ we’re here to stand with u. like you said idk why it
Oh, your message might’ve gotten cut off! But nonnie, I acknowledge your message 🙏🏾
It’s definitely difficult. BIPOC/POC fans are pretty much outnumbered in the SPN fandom because the show has traction in white rural American demographic areas; the majority of fans are also scattered across USA. That being said, I’m not in the mood to revisit racially traumatizing interactions I’ve had in SPN fandom thus far (there’s been quite a few though, oh boy, tiring) — and white women, some of whom I considered friends in the past, eventually thought that being friends with an Asian activist-and-fan was too exhausting, unsettling, or uncomfortable for them (Note: I make mistakes as an individual; I’m not perfect at all) — but let me get to the point, and I don’t want to detract from it:
The Asian community is still complicit in the murder of George Floyd and countless other Black folx. We are complicit via colonial manipulation, in which our people were written off and implemented as “model minorities” by racist North America to establish respectability politics and further the -otherence of Black folx. Anti-blackness is global. Again, although I’m part of another marginalized, -othered, systematically oppressed ethnic minority — and although we stand in solidarity/rage with Black folx against the same racist, white supremacist, and colonial system — our lived racial experiences are not the same. We’re not equal (of course, YELLOW PERIL, Orientalism, and anti-Asian racism are prominent in the age of COVID-19 — and always has been — but we still remain another cog in the white supremacist machine collectively against Black folx).
In particular, internalized (anti-Black) racism is engrained in Filipinx culture. The Philippines has been colonized for so long — by Spain, then America (termed benevolent assimilation by McKinley during the Philippine-American war; such colonial attempts were disguised as (white) saviourism from Japanese occupation in WW II as well; we were supposed to “owe” the Americans) — that we have absorbed white colonial ideals of anti-Blackness ourselves. Skin-whitening products run rampant back home. We were taught that USA and Spain were the true lands of opportunity — an entire behavioural and physical model for the attainment of white perfection. Filipinx were taught by their parents, and their parents’ parents, to be scared and racial-microaggressively aware of Black folx in hoodies walking by you on the street. Black has become the “trend”, with fellow Filipinx spewing the N word freely, incorporating cornrows into their everyday fashion routine, and/or expressing eagerness to label white-passing/biracial Filipinx, be it 1/30th or 1/2 Filipinx blood, as one of our own. Miss Philippines candidates often — not always - but often — fit the biracial mould of white-passing beauty standards, henceforth erasing the value of darker — Black — skin. Decolonization, desegregation, and removal of this internalized anti-Blackness by the Asian community is a lifelong process and must continue.
George Floyd died at the hands of white Derek Chauvin and a fellow Asian police officer. We’re solely responsible for holding our entire community accountable, both online and offline. Black folx must be empowered by our non-Black POC allyship and white allyship in a predominantly white supremacist system. Please use your privilege to elevate their voices!
#asians4blacklives#filipinx4blacklives#-mod naruhearts#supernatural#adjacent#racism#spn + racism#fandom racism#black lives matter#justice for george floyd#white privilege#ask
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Hello everyone,
Hope you’re all staying safe out there. ♥️ Reminder that Black Lives Matter and advocacy for BIPOC will never stop. This is a life-long movement. Don’t post a mere hashtag and retweet/reblog/share resources for a week then stop entirely. Unlearning and dismantling the white supremacist world we all live in requires the constant drive to actively self-reflect, educate, and incorporate anti-racist and anti-Black behaviour into our daily routine outside social media trends.
It’s extremely sad that it once again took the recent deaths of George Floyd + many, many other Black and BIPOC lives to shake a white world - to remind them that ALL HUMANS cannot matter until BLACK AND BIPOC HUMANS matter.
The global struggle of my people, and the struggle of Black folx and BIPOC, never get a pause. Racism is the invisible and visible force we fight against everyday. Continue to step up.
#black lives matter#-mod naruhearts#supernatural#adjacent#mod naruhearts#lifelong advocacy#bipoc#white privilege#daily reminder
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https://lettersforblacklives.com/about-the-letter-ed27ea67eb2e
Fellow Asians, we have a duty.
This is also available in various languages, including Tagalog, Telugu, and more. Please share it. Please show your support.
-Mod @naruhearts
- - - - - - - -
Letters for Black Lives is a set of crowdsourced, multilingual, and culturally-aware resources aimed at creating a space for open and honest conversations about racial justice, police violence, and anti-Blackness in our families and communities.
We began as a group of Asian Americans and Canadians writing an intergenerational letter to voice our concerns and support for the Black community. We have since grown to include other immigrant groups and communities of color. Our goal is to listen, support, and amplify the message of Black Lives Matter within our communities.
We encourage people from all communities to adapt and build off of these resources.
#asians4blacklives#-mod naruhearts#racism#resources#black lives matter#letters for black lives#solidarity#filipinx4blacklives
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More racism in Supernatural || 14x13 Lebanon || by @naruhearts
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A black POC villain (Pawn Shop) was shot and killed by white men Sam and Dean. White individuals worked in Lebanon’s liquor store and post office – both public jobs with visibility. Another black POC worked behind the counter in a backdoor job at the pizzeria while the white mother of Max worked front of house. The Lebanon teenager gang consisted of one Asian POC woman, two white/light-skinned women, and one white man. The Asian POC was discarded/sidelined and held no substantial role and/or appearance in the episode’s narrative (so was the black POC teenager from the Feb 7 Skip Day party who was almost victimized by serial killer clown ghost yet eventually escaped). Only the white/white-skinned identifying teenagers held direct storyline interaction with Sam and Dean.
There was skewed race-based representation here: tokenism. Also recall that POC – especially black POC – have been painted as invisible people, the bad guys/villains, and low-wage backdoor labour force employees in media narratives for decades. The continuous perpetuation of these racist tropes in SPN saddens me but doesn’t surprise me.
#-mod naruhearts#racism#spn + racism#spn + race blindness#andrew dabb and meredith glynn are white writers#hence the apparent blindness to racist perceptions and misaligned characterizations of POC in their writing#fandomcolourofmyskin#fcs#spn s14#14x13#supernatural#fandom racism#adjacent#I LOVED the episode overall#but these were the problematic elements#spn + tokenism#tokenism
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R&R: Race-based Reminders
by @naruhearts || Jan 24 2018
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Today is a good day to lay down some key points:
1. White/white-identifying individuals must realize that they CANNOT speak for all POC, including their own POC friends. POC may be intersectionally and systematically oppressed and ostracized as a collective in white-constructed Western society, but differing ethnic minority groups possess differing experiences. It is racially inappropriate for white people to tell certain POC what is or isn’t offensive, since each varied POC experience is not painted with broad strokes; they aren’t the same.
What a white individual may perceive as offensive/non-offensive does NOT hold the same meanings and connotations for a POC.
2. Just because something is ‘fact’ doesn’t discount how POC interpret it and consume it. White people might correct POC who point out something in a TV show, take offense to it, and thus discuss it or make jokes about it. White viewers might be argumentative with POC viewers and claim that: “the characters aren’t racist! I’m pointing out the facts! Nothing indicates they’re racist and there’s no substantial basis for your accusations! The writers didn’t mean for it to be racist!”
“The writers didn’t mean for it to be racist” —> tries to push subconscious white supremacy under the rug, exempt white people from race-based responsibility and accountability, and make the POC reality invisible; I will talk about this more in the future, but white writers do not have to have CONSCIOUS AUTHORIAL INTENT in order to write something that is interpreted as potentially racist. White-painted historical narratives influence a white person’s behaviour and by socialized design, they can incorporate racism into ANYTHING they do, subconscious or not (due to internalization of white dominance).
Don’t be defensive. Media consumption by white people is entirely DISTINCT from media consumption by People of Colour.
Again, a white person CANNOT establish an objective view for POC, especially when it comes to societal mediums like media. If they think that TV show characters can be racist or if they think something in the literary narrative(s) potentially comes across as racist, they are 100% entitled to this belief (this is elaborated upon in later points). Refrain from overall defensiveness and LISTEN to POC. After all, POC are oppressed; white people are not.
***Please do NOT tell POC that they are “fake woke” if you aren’t POC yourself, even if you personally disagree with anything they said or did. This is a form of racial bullying.
3. Other POC groups lack the authority to exercise the N-word if they do not belong to the Black community. The N-word exists within the Black sociocultural context and is attached to historically unjust/oppressive narratives, policy development, and legal/institutional action against Black POC. It isn’t the business of other POC groups to contribute opinions about a Black person’s racism jokes or how they choose to perceive racism, just like it isn’t a Black POC’s business to contribute adjacent opinions about racism jokes or perceptions of racism of Chinese POC, Filipino POC etc.
***As a Filipina POC, I will never, for example, disclose or enforce an opinion about c***k jokes being thrown around by Chinese POC. Their respective racial space stays untouched.
4. The dimension of colourism —> very real. Light-skinned privilege is pervasive and underpins white privilege within the sociocultural Western context, where light-skinned individuals are either considered “not POC enough” or “not white enough”. If a dark-skinned POC states that other light-skinned POC are “not POC enough”, it is NOT a white person’s business to defend their light-skinned POC friend(s) without allowing or inviting those friends to speak (this is addressed in the following point).
5. A white person is entitled to their opinion - and yes, they are certainly entitled to defend their POC friend(s) - but their opinion ultimately does NOT matter nor does it hold importance because the racial discussion occurring between POCs excludes them in the first place. White people cannot relate (nor do they belong) within the underprivileged racial context in that POC lack systemic and institutional power/influence when it comes to their opinions, henceforth it’s NOT a priority for the white person’s opinion to be heard; it is more racially appropriate for white people to withhold such opinions and instead let the debate between POCs continue uninterrupted. People of Colour experience enough interruption and talking over by the predominantly White sphere of North American society.
The following excerpt from USA TODAY OPINION is highly applicable to whiteness and race-based discourse:
“Most people think of the Ku Klux Klan when they hear “white supremacy.” But the term just means that whiteness is the supreme value, which in the news media it is. As feminist writer Anushay Hossain noted to me, “Just the fact that Megyn Kelly feels she can have a conversation about race on television with three white people is the definition of white privilege.” Before anything offensive was said, there was already a problem” (Powers, 2018)
6. Do not put in argumentative or defensive interjections if POC/BIPOC (Black/Indigenous POC) attempt to address your racist actions, especially ones that are “invisible” to you and thus “can’t be racist behaviour” (aka white fragility). Trust the word(s) of POC/BIPOC people. We witness racism everyday as ethnic minority-labelled groups and can hence distinguish underlying racist patterns easily, from the obvious to the nuanced. We think of ourselves in racial terms and are able to describe how our lives are shaped by our race within, again, Whiteness-governed society; white people cannot do these things (fail to think of themselves in racial terms as a larger group; fail to describe how their own lives are shaped by their race) since they hold the (unearned) privilege to walk through life unaffected by social, cultural, and political systems that A. benefit white people, and B. disadvantage People of Colour (aka white privilege).
7. Another point: do not tokenize your POC friends. Saying that you cannot be racist “because you have POC friends” reduces your POC friends to nothing but caricatures who elevate your social status and erase your accountability and complicity. Racism does not manifest ONLY through obvious external attitudes, beliefs, and behaviours, but through internal attitudes, beliefs, and behaviours. Racism exists via subconscious systemic forces (i.e. social media) that permeate society in numerous ways.
In other words, racism is a multifaceted subconscious/conscious structure, “not an event” (DiAngelo, 2018).
8. Some common white myths: “a. I don’t see colour” b. “Focusing on race divides us” c. “It’s about class, not race” —> Firstly, saying one doesn’t see colour perpetuates erasure of the POC experience/reality. Secondly, race already divides us. Thirdly, we CANNOT talk about other systemic forces like socioeconomic class without addressing race. Race is inherently interweaved into other structural dimensions. It’s why BIPOC/POC are paid less than white employees/unequally treated in terms of job capability, struggle to find jobs, are unable to afford three-story suburban houses, and can never seem to find favour no matter how hard we work.
Here we go into the issue of legal structures —> Black people in the U.S., for example, were historically barred from purchasing land, investing their money, and seeking permanent lodging. In 1960s Canada, Indigenous POC were plucked from their homes, abused in residential schools, lost their land, and could not gain Canadian rights and citizenship unless they renounced their Aboriginal identity; the Canadian Chinese Immigrant Act of 1885 implemented the Chinese Head Tax to discourage Chinese POC from entering Canada after the Canadian Pacific Railway was created. Overall, POC were confined to financial poverty/kept from flourishing financially. Filipino immigrants in Canada, for example, tend to move into low-wage backdoor jobs involving the transfer of labour from white people to POC people e.g. nannies, factory workers, and foodservice (these include my Filipino relatives in these jobs), while white individuals tend to take up jobs of higher public status e.g. delegation, policy-making (Gibb & Wittman, 2012). In a predominantly white-privileged society, the BIPOC/POC financial reality lags.
***It’s not about “working hard to get to the top” — it’s about “working hard to eliminate racism that hinders us from getting to the top and staying there.” We will always be five steps behind white people today (who, underneath an individualistic ideology, think financial merit can be earned if one works hard enough regardless of race —> again this perpetuates the erasure of POC realities and ignores the POC financial hardship experience + systemic racist forces at play. We do not live in a meritocracy, but in a racial hierarchy). Historical racism is the reason for it.
9. Finally: appropriate language.
Refrain from using derogatory racial terms such as “coloured” and corresponding rhetoric when referring to People of Colour.
If you intend to be a non-BIPOC/non-POC ally, please expand your horizons on appropriate race-based term usage when engaging in racial discourse. Continuous education with POC is key!
#fandom racism#spn + racism#spn + white fragility#white fragility#white privilege#racism#-mod naruhearts#fandomcolourofmyskin#fcs#long post for ts#white narratives#white history#racism in fandom
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VIDEO - Author Robin DiAngelo: Debunking the most common myths white people tell about race
by NBC News || Sept. 25 2018
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Robin DiAngelo, author of “White Fragility,” unpacks common excuses white people make about race–and how to address them.
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✊🏿
In celebration of Black History Month, I’d love to compile some key articles/story links for Black History education!
Of course, Black History must always be heard, studied, and discussed, but unfortunately a lot of white noise blocks consistent access; Black History Month boosts visibility, especially across social media.
Feel free to share your own experiences and stories (academic or personal) if you’re a black/black-identifying person! Our inbox will be open for collection!
Let’s talk, cherish, appreciate, and empower!
Cheers,
- Mon
I also want to share an enlightening Black History-relevant excerpt from White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo —
“I am not against Black History Month. But it should be celebrated in a way that doesn’t reinforce whiteness. For those who ask us why there is no White History Month, the answer illustrates how whiteness works. White history is implied in the absence of its acknowledgement; white history is the norm for history. Thus, our need to qualify that we are speaking about black history or women’s history suggests that these contributions lie outside the norm” (DiAngelo, 2018, p. 61-62)
#-mod naruhearts#racism#happy black history month#black history month#whiteness#robin diangelo#fcs#fandomcolourofmyskin#hence why All Lives Matter is white-constructed norm BS :P
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I'm a PoC and I'm confused as to the "okayness" of the term "coloured". Is it a slur for any ethnic or racial groups of PoC? Can I use it to describe myself and / or other PoC?
Hi POC nonnie! :D
Here’s a few short excerpts briefly describing its origins:
Like “Oriental,” “colored” [in North America] harkens back to an era of exclusion, a time when Jim Crow was in full force, and blacks used water fountains marked “colored” and sat in the “colored” sections of buses, beaches, and restaurants. In short, the term stirs up painful memories. — Why You Should Avoid These Racial Terms, Thought Co. x
In the UK the term is, at best, seen as old fashioned and "something your gran might say". But it's also regarded as a highly offensive racial slur which recalls a time when casual racism was a part of everyday life. In the US, because of the country's recent era of racial segregation, it is among the most offensive words for describing a black person. “[It] was used to describe anybody who was not white, which may imply that to be white is 'normal' or default," says the charity Show Racism the Red Card. Historically, the word is associated with segregation, especially in the US, where black people were kept separate from white people - on public transport, or at drinking fountains which were described as "coloured-only" for example. — Warning: Why using the term 'coloured' is offensive, BBC News x
^^^ These underline why the specific term is a racial slur, especially relative to Black POC.
In modern society it’s racially appropriate for white people to refer to non-white persons and groups as “People of Colour” instead of “coloured”; white people lack the right to exercise authority over the term because, once again, they do not experience race-organized systemic marginalization nor have they been historically oppressed on the basis of their race and skin colour.
(BBC)
Now I can’t speak for the opinions of Black POC who do use “coloured” e.g. NAACP: National Association for the Advancement of Colored People est. 1909 — a major US civil rights organization dedicated to establish African American progression — and neither can I judge how they use the term to describe themselves, but by all means, go ahead. I personally believe we must move away from its usage altogether, in that the term defines POC as the -OTHER: the OUTSIDE of norms. It reminds us that whiteness is default.
Overall, “coloured” conveys horrific historical narratives entrenched in racism, and hearing the word uttered in person or articulated on social media by white people (white people I either know or who cross my path by happenstance) while I go about my day offends me and stimulates my uncomfortableness just the same.
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