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International Blog Against Racism Week: Get on Board

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by Kate Sedgwick Aug 2, 2009

This is International Blog Against Racism Week. Begun four years ago we’re in the thick of it. It ends on the 3rd of August, so get to posting. Links are posted daily here:

http://community.livejournal.com/ibarw/8586.html

Join by announcing and posting your own blog to be linked, or dig in and read some points of view and deep discussions that you’re sure to return to when reflecting against racism.

Many people fail to consider racism if they don’t feel that it directly affects them. Often, white people express feeling accused when they read work that deals with racism.

Racism affects everyone. If you’re not part of the solution, you are part of the problem, if only because you fail to see the truth. If you feel attacked by anti-racist methodology, it only goes to prove that you are so completely used to being in the majority and so thoroughly accustomed to feeling that media is directed toward you, that anything that makes you feel uncomfortable feels like a personal attack.

This is why IBARW is so important for people who lack the melanin it would take to identify as a Person of Color.

In light of the election of the first black President of the United States, many people (mostly white) have said this is proof that racism is over. This is a very convenient way of thinking and does nothing to further the anti-racist movement. The only purpose it serves is to further obfuscate unchallenged racist ideas long held. Anyone who believes this has a hell of a lot to learn.

If the recent discussions and challenges to Sotomayor’s integrity and judgement are anything to go by, there is still quite a fight ahead of us all to challenge racism when we see it. How certain white male politicians were able to continue making racist statements and diatribes with little nationally broadcast public outrage just goes to show that our media outlets (at least in the United States) haven’t got the slightest clue.

If you don’t feel qualified to post, at least participate by reading and thinking. It is only by challenging racism that we can really make a difference, understand it, and work to defeat it.

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