There's this annoying thing that white people do where people of color will say one thing and then yt folks wilfully misinterpret it into the dumbest and most malicious thing possible
PoC say very often "listen to us when we speak" and white people will very often respond with "so you want me to think your opinion is more important than anyone else's because of the color of your skin??"" Which is not at all what's being said, but the white person who says this was never interested in learning in the first place, and they're hoping to use the "gotcha" that skin color doesn't matter as a reason to disregard everything that a person of color who goes against them says
(never mind that not all people of color have brown skin in the first place)
But, for instance, I am Black. I have friends who are Asian. They point out a racist stereotype or sinophobic propaganda in something, and I read it and I listen to what the say--not because of """""the color of their skin""""" but because when they speak on that racist thing, they're speaking from multiple points of personal experience, observation, sociocultural context, and historical evidence, all of which has clear lines between the racist thing and the direct result of the racist thing (more racism).
And all this is obvious to me. I have enough braincells to know that racism is repeated in many of the same ways. I know that when someone says "X people don't like Y thing", I'm not taking what they say into consideration because of """skin color""" but because they have collective, expert knowledge in a subject that I do not. If I need to know more, I either Google it or ask. I don't dig my heels in and make assumptions about why they are demanding to be respected.
Do you listen to a doctor when they give you a diagnosis? Do you listen to a mechanic when they say your cars broken? Or the meteorologist on TV? None of these people get inane responses like "you just want us to listen because you're on TV or you have a wrench. What happened to everyone being valuable regardless of profession?"
You would listen to a Black person who gives a short history on Soul Food without saying "but your skin color doesn't matter, so why should I listen?" If a Chinese person starts talking about their culture, or an Indian person about theirs or a Nigerian about their own, and whether they're simply educating or correcting, they're speaking from a place of authority--do you start talking about how skin color doesn't matter? Do you realize how stupid this is?
Because when people who experience racism talk about racism, it's in white people's instinct to think we're bringing up the personal and historical patterns for the egotistical purposes of making everything about skin color. It's disgusting. "Listen to PoC" means "be aware that there are personal accounts, historical/cultural accounts, and myriad other evidence that proves this thing is harmful" not "my skin is dark so therefore I'm right".
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