To come from a conversation about co-option and derailing of Black Lives Matter to this co-option of a antiracist work without concern or consideration is to fundamentally misread what anyone is asking people to do, let alone myself. (I do not speak for @RukminiPande.)
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I am tired of fighting battles and I want to give people space to learn. But please, for the love of the praxis everyone is so eager to claim but no one wants to do the actual work for, maybe leave the tweet in drafts.
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My patience is not infinite and I am extremely willing to call a spade a spade. Kindness is not for profit. Full stop.
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Okay, let's do this. If the book is ancient history, there was *no need* to mention it. If you saw that senior scholars said something, you could have RTed anything being said or simply said "In solidarity" or something of that nature.https://twitter.com/prof_anne/status/1300535505977634816 …
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If you are not fully informed on a situation, then linking it to this previous book project makes no sense. Also, surely the first thing to do would be to inform yourself of context? How did you plan to intervene otherwise? Or did you not plan to intervene outside of this tweet?
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The claim to offer solidarity is not worth much without the willingness to back it and take actual action. Tweeting, apparently without knowing or looking for context, and plugging a 7 year old book project, is not action or solidarity.
@prof_anneNäytä tämä ketju -
I refuse this. We are literally asking people to re-examine their "good intent" because it is flawed & perpetuates harm without conscious action. I don't want empty tweets of solidarity ever; I want reasoned & informed support, ideally with a plan of action. Full stop.
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If this is how someone is teaching
@RukminiPande's work, they have fundamentally not understood its depth, its scope, or its purpose. And again, this is how systemic racism with "good intentions" propagates itself.Näytä tämä ketju -
I am opting out of this conversation. I do not believe that respect exists in a vacuum. I do not believe that there can be a claim of respect without an attempt to understand contexts. This is a passive, defensive position and puts onus on me re: racism.https://twitter.com/prof_anne/status/1300542321205735424 …
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The very idea that the ethical position when benefiting from systemic racism is not to educate yourself on contexts & constantly working to materially intervene in ways that are PoC-led is so amazingly white that it's like staring into the sun.
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Anyone looking to address kyriarchal oppression can't sit at "I might get it wrong so I don't" and assume someone who has no idea that they will even willingly intervene will even come to them to ask (beg/ request because power) assistance. This is either cowardice or passivity.
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If this seeming respect or support relied on asking how either Rukmini or I needed help, that should have been the first tweet or DM. Not a tweet about an old book project. And not this barrage of "nice white" nonsense playing at interaction. It doesn't work this way.
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And I am furious that every time we explain to people WHY they are messing up, the first thing they make us weigh is the question of if we will scare them away from the current minimum they do. It's a built-in validation of white fragility and chosen passivity.
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If you think you aren't able to intervene in oppression without causing harm, then that's not the work done. The work then changes to going and educating yourself and equipping yourself with skills to be able to intervene in the future. Anything else is a disavowal of response.
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And make no mistake, no response is still response. Waiting for an invitation is not reaching out and saying, "do you need me? These are things I can and will do. Is there something better/ something else you recommend as well?" That's the difference in listening & being invited
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I cannot tell you how often when academic spaces I'm in have been racist, no one has intervened. Is everyone waiting for the POC scholars in the room to invite them? Really? That's the plan?
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There's a BIG difference between listening and deferring to what people tell you they need and not coming in until explicit invitation (which, incidentally, often just feels like white apathy) and like PoC scholars are asking favours. I refuse this.
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And PoC scholar tends to gain from fighting racism in white-dominated fields. Most often, there's a brief surge of interest before everyone forgets and then the person is penalised for being "difficult" and "what if we mess up and they call /US/ out? Let's not go there."
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Please lord, preserve me from pre-emptive white fragility. At the same time, the white academic gets to talk about how they were invited in to help and benefit off that. They're not seen as difficult; they're seen as necessary and powerful. It's really hard to miss.
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I am tired of good intentions. I am tired of passivity. I am tired of being seen as difficult when I /know/ its possible to do better than this because I know so many people who put in that effort.
@henryjenkins, for all his faults, messes up on the regular but still tries.Näytä tämä ketju -
Anyone who wants to sit on the sidelines until someone runs up and tags them in when it comes to this stuff when it comes to a field that's overwhelmingly white and actively penalising might as well go home. I'm tired of pretending otherwise. Either do the work or go home.
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In conclusion, don't capitalise on the pain of scholars of colour and, if you made the mistake of doing so, reflect, apologise without being defensive, and take measures not to repeat this in a way that does not stem from or centre white fragility because IT'S NOT ABOUT YOU.
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