Man-creature Thing

This is lookism that stems from ableism.

I was raised believing I was fully white. Unaware of my Black, Jewish OR Romani heritage. And on one hand: did I get racism anyway? I sure did. How much of it had to do with the way my British accent in Canada morphed and -- to anyone already sort of squinting at my complexion -- started to sound "other" as the two accents collided?

But now I identify myself as mixed race. The before and after on people being weird about my nose when I say I'm Jewish is.... Sure Fucking Something. And online, where visual markers mean less? I am treated as a "scary Black man" a....LOT. like, notably a lot. Less than I am in person, because in person, colorism intervenes on my behalf -- but online, people see what I'm mixed with and come to their own conclusions.

Why might someone from a group of people that historically have been denied access to wealth, now brag that they have it?

“Rappers only talk about sex!”

Why might someone from a group that have historically been denied sexual autonomy now brag about their sexual escapades on their own terms?

“Rappers only talk about drugs and crime!”

This blog is a curated post collection to help white people learn about racism, imperialism, activism, and their role in systems of oppression. This post contains the tag system so you can look at posts by subject, as well as a list of helpful resources and other blogs to follow. Any non-bold words that are underlined are links to recommended reading!

This blog is intended mainly for browsing, not just following. I will not reblog single posts more than once so please take time to look through the archived posts!

Tag System

Basics: This tag contains a handful of short(ish) posts to get you started (also read the links in the next few bullets!)

White Guilt: Posts about white guilt

White Fragility: Posts about white fragility

Privilege: Posts about privilege

Appropriation: Posts about cultural appropriation

White Culture: Posts about what white culture looks like (yes, white people do have culture!). Subset of the culture tag.

Culture: Very broad tag for posts about different cultures and cultural racism

Allyship: Posts about what being a good ally looks like (or doesn't look like!)

Antiracism: Posts about the action of unlearning racism and/or teaching others to do so (lots of overlap with allyship)

White Supremacy: Posts about white supremacy

US Centrism & Eurocentrism: Posts about the treatment of white imperialist cultures as "default"

History: Posts with information about historical events or figures connected to systemic racism

Current events: Posts about instances of modern-day racism and imperialism

Antiblackness: Posts about racism against Black people

Indigenous: Broad tag for posts about indigenous cultures worldwide

Africa: Broad tag for African cultures & how African countries are treated by the global North

Orientalism: Posts about racism against people of Asian descent

Imperialism: Posts about imperialism

Antisemitism: Posts about bigotry against Jews

Dogwhistles: Posts about words, phrases, and symbols with plausible deniability used by bigots to signal one another

Conspiracy theories: Posts about conspiracy theories that are rooted in bigotry (spoiler: it's most of them)

Environmentalism: Posts about bigotry in environmentalist movements, such as ecofascism

Religion: Broad tag for posts involving religion or religious ideals

Language: Posts about languages & dialects subject to oppression

Community: Posts about how racism appears in communities and/or how to combat it

Relationships: Posts about how racism appears (or doesn't!) in interpersonal relationships

Experiences: Personal accounts/stories about experiencing racism

Gender: Posts about the intersection of racism and gender

Medical: Posts about bigotry/bias in medical settings

Incarceration: Posts about the prison system in the US (basically, it's modern slavery)

Media: Posts about racism in media

Social Media: Posts about racism on the internet

Fandom: Posts about racism in fandom culture

Humor: Posts about jokes & memes as a vessel for both outright and subtle bigotry (and when they're not)

Activism: Posts about activism

Recommended media: Things to watch or read!

Most posts are cross-tagged, and posts may also be tagged with additional relevant terms.

Please be aware: your comfort is not a priority here. Due to the subject matter of this blog, some posts may mention triggering topics. Any posts that describe these actions with any detail will be trigger tagged, but I will not be tagging for keyword mentions (e.g. "women of color are often sexually assaulted"). Nobody is ever obligated to read a detailed account of something horrible, but if you're here to learn about racism you need to be willing to hear that horrible things happen. If you cannot tolerate thinking about these things at all you can use tumblr's content filtering feature for keywords, but please acknowledge that your ability to avoid this kind of information is a form of white privilege.

Resources & Blogs:

The recommended media tag!

Re: media, I highly recommend beginning your antiracism journey by watching this in full.

@creatingblackcharacters: Fantastic blog for learning about antiblack racism. I recommend reading all the lessons in her pinned post.

@insertspanishhere: Blog about Hispanic tropes & stereotypes

@checkyourasianbias: Blog about Orientalism & Asian cultures

@modelsofcolor: Follow to help diversify your tumblr feed and subconsciously unlearn eurocentric beauty standards

@folkfashion: Same as the above

@naturalhairhow101: Posts about Black hairstyles

@isuggestlandback: Posts mainly about indigenous cultures and social issues

@olowan-waphiya: Posts mainly about indigenous cultures and social issues

@blackcharacterpolls: Posts about Black characters in various media

@does-it-like-black-women: Poll blog about media. I recommend looking through the notes on finished polls.

@doberbutts: Posts a lot about queer intersectionality with race and other social issues

@directactionforhope: Posts about current events, social issues, and activism

Melanin Library: Database of books by Black authors

JSTOR Reading Library: Free Black liberation reading materials

Indigenous website & resource list

Masterlist of Black focused resources

In general, try to follow as many POC on social media as you can. Do not comment on posts that are not meant for you, but make a habit of filling your feed with posts by people in other demographics and cultures. Likewise, make a habit of deliberately seeking out media created by POC. Doing these things will allow you to learn new things without having to ask people, and to unlearn the gut reaction to see white people as "default".

It should go without saying but this is tumblr, so: me (the blog owner) reblogging a post or recommending a blog is not the same as me endorsing all opinions and content posted by that blog. The content I recommend here is intended to make you think and (hopefully) grow as a person, and reading and understanding differing opinions is part of that!

We (yes WE, YOU TOO WHITE PEOPLE) are not pretending these people aren't racist ever again. Using your Latasian-but-voiced-by-a-white-guy abuser blorbo to evoke police brutality against a Femme of Color is maybe, just MAYBE, not a good look, Glitch

When I was doing my criminology degree, I went to several professors with several thesis ideas, and all of them were denied. These were all ideas based on transmasculine crime and victimology stats. Every professor shot down every thesis I had on ideas related to transmasc victims of various crimes.

Their reasoning? There's no need for this. This is useless. Nobody is interested in reading about trans men and transmascs being victims of crimes. They wouldn't even let me do my thesis on estimating more accurate stats on transmasculine victims of homicide. Which is an INCREDIBLY important thing!