On Hipster Racism

“So when you say that racism isn’t something you see, I won’t argue with that – you probably don’t see it. But I doubt that you’ve never been exposed to it. It is real. It does happen. But being white, you’ve never had to deal with it. You’ve never gotten rejected from a job and had to wonder if it was because of your name, or been stopped by police when you weren’t doing anything illegal or even suspicious, or any of the other number of subtle racist things that go on every single day. I know that hipster racism feels like it’s proving that you’re not racist (“Look, I’m so not racist, I can say racist things and it’s funny because we all know I’m not racist!”), but it exacerbates that inner, subconscious racism both in you and in other people. I don’t really know what the solution is, other than, when a black person tells you that you said something racist and it bothered them, don’t defend it. Don’t say it was just a joke, because to them it’s not a joke, it’s their life, and they have to deal with that crap for real every day. Say sorry, and try to figure out why you said it and how to not say something like it again.”

LookInTheDog comments on Reddit


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