We’re Not Done Yet!
A lot of people, primarily white people, have treated these discussions of honesty, acceptance of valid criticism, and racism in the writeblr community as just another phase of “drama” that would soon pass.
I’d like to tell these people that, perhaps, getting to view racism as just another bit of petty drama that they can simply wait out is indicative of white privilege. Refusing to engage with discussions of racism when you are a white person simply enables and perpetuates racism.
White people, a discussion of racism is not a storm that you hide out from underground, squeezing your eyes shut with a stockpile beside you waiting for it to pass so you can come out safely again.
A discussion of racism is rather more like a group of victims who have been terrorized by a hydra for far too long finally taking action to defeat the monster. We’ve had enough, and hell, we’d even tried talking the monster out of it, but it persists, so now it’s time for some sort of confrontation. And guess what? Even the hydra heads NOT snapping at us are still keeping the monster alive, enabling the heads that ARE doing damage to continue to do so.
Your silence does harm. Your unwillingness to speak up and defend people of color when you see racism does harm.
That’s not to say that you MUST publicly make/reblog callout posts are whatever in order to be a True White Ally™ or something. There’s several white writeblrs who, during this whole affair, reached out to me privately to show support, or sent me friendly anons, or politely asked me questions, etc. Trust me, we understand! There’s issues like anxiety that prevent us from being able to confront our friends or make public statements. Still, do what you can, and talk it over with people. At the same time, keep in mind that the discomfort of having these conversations as a white person doesn’t really match the active harm that racism does to people of color, and remember that it’s important to do your best to use your privilege for good. A little bit of discomfort is bound to arise from discussions of racism in specifics, where actual changes in behavior and decisions can happen, as opposed to the general comfort of reblogging nebulous posts about how “brown ppl are valid!!!” White people trying to do good, we don’t want you to actively harm yourself, but we really do need you to help us out.
However, I’ve seen a trend of people resolutely not talking about this stuff, where they’ll get asks about their opinions on things and say, “Oh, well, I don’t want to comment on this. Stuff like this happens all the time!” and hint at their true opinions (i.e. siding with the racist) in the tags. Well, if you’re able to make those posts, white vaguebloggers, then why not instead take a look around you, realize how whiteness dominates your community, and criticize the racism accompanying that instead? Why not try to participate when POC are facilitating open, honest discussions of racism they see within a community we both belong to?
A lot of people have talked about positivity in writeblr, and how I’m spreading hate or something. But the fact of the matter is, racism is inherently negativity. And if you guys are so concerned about creating an actually positive space, well, the discomfort or “negativity” of having conversations critical of racist actions is SUBSTANTIALLY less that the actual harm that people of color feel when they see your racism. If you think that talking about racism in specific instances is just “spreading hate and toxicity,” consider that perhaps you have a substantial amount of privilege in not being negatively harmed by the hatred of racism that has been in the writeblr community for far, far longer than I ever made a post criticizing Boo directly. Racism has driven out and discouraged writers of color looking to join this community. Stop prioritizing the comfort of racist whiteblrs over the safety of writers of color.
Please don’t treat the discussions we’ve had as a one-off thing. Just because the brunt of the discussion is over doesn’t mean people should just sit back once more and let racism happen. The only way you can truly mitigate racism is by actively fighting it. Please, do your best and make sure stuff like this doesn’t happen again. The POC of writeblr deserve better than what we’ve been getting.
As certain people seem to be crawling back in and deleting their fauxpologies in an attempt to sweep this whole matter under the rug, please make sure you’re doing your best to make writeblr a safe, inclusive community by upholding equality and accountability to the best of your ability.
