Decolonize Yourself

Diunital worldview and how people (mis)interpret Black communication

dumbthingswhitepplsay:

strugglingtobeheard:

eshusplayground:

Earlier this year, I came across a term that sums up the deepest source of conflict when it comes to simply communicating with people who are not Black. That term is diunital cognition (also known as diunital reasoning, diunital logic, and diunital worldview).

In short, it’s a “both/and” rather than “either/or” (dichotomous) worldview, but of course it’s more complicated than that. It’s a fascinating topic on its own, especially how it names, defines, and validates the surviving Africanisms in diaspora African people and communities. This is not just a cultural form, but an entire worldview. The fact that it still exists is frankly miraculous.

As amazing as these implications are, I want to talk about how this worldview tends to come into conflict with the dominant dichotomous worldview.

Case in point: The reaction to Melissa Harris-Perry’s article about the racial dynamics of how White liberals talk about President Obama.

In the dominant dichotomous discourse, people are either racist (bad) or not racist (good). So when a person tells someone with this dichotomous worldview that something they said or did could have racist implications, they see a challenge to their moral worth and thus their humanity. So, here come the “Prove racism exists” and the “I have Black friends” and the “I studied This or That Black Author” and the quotes from Martin Luther King. Not to mention the accusations of “reverse racism” and the chips on shoulders and the hating White people and so on.

And this leaves Black folks hurt, frustrated, tired, and confused when we see White people arguing vehemently against points we never made - and making the same damn arguments each and every time. And from there, we either lash out or shut down. To be frank, it’s more often the latter than the former. 

This is not an excuse, just an observation.

What a dichotomous discourse fails* to recognize or acknowledge are the nuances and complexities of a diunital worldview, which can reveal themselves in subtle ways.

(*This is not to say that dichotomous discourse is useless. It is quite valuable in many, many circumstances - especially when finding information, interpreting events, or making decisions based on empirical evidence. The problem with dichotomous thinking is that it has dominated the way Western imperialist societies have interpreted the world even when it doesn’t fit the reality.)

Speaking only for myself, and only for conversations about racism, it starts before I even open my mouth or hit “reply” in a discussion. Until proven otherwise (and this may be a personal failing of mine), I assume a certain level of basic human decency. If I were convinced that the person I’m about to speak to is an unrepentant bigot, I would not bother wasting my time. So if you’re not an unrepentant bigot, but a person who’s genuinely trying to do the right thing, it doesn’t strike me as necessary to constantly make that explicit if I don’t want people to lose their shit.

Come to think of it, I’d be insulted if someone did to me what I’m expected to do for White people - that is, reassure them of their essential goodness even as (or perhaps more than) I criticize their behavior. Maybe I’m weird, but that’s not how I treat grown-ass people. You do that shit with small children who are still learning the difference between unacceptable behavior and unacceptable person.

But, I digress.

In these conversations, the dichotomous worldview presents a constant drive for an absolute answer, that final verdict. There is a push to resolve the question once and for all. Which is fine, if that’s what everyone agrees to. But that’s not always the case. More often than not, when I approach these things, I do so with the intent of exploring the different facets of whatever we’re talking about.

You can see it right here on Tumblr. Take any discussion amongst Black women about our experiences as Black women. There is a richness and a vitality to the way our discussions unfold, whether online or in person. Not just in how we speak, but also in the way we listen. When you have a chance to observe and reflect, it’s a thing of beauty. However, this beauty requires a specific environment to thrive, and part of that environment is a diunital worldview.

You know what’s fascinating about these discussions? You don’t see a lot of debate. There can be differences of opinion, but not to the extent of trying to render the other participants’ experiences and perspectives invalid. In fact, the reaction to those who try to introduce that to the discussion is often quite harsh. That’s not because we’re Angry Black Women looking for an internet fight, but because this behavior is experienced as an invasive attack on how we understand and process our experiences. It’s policing, but it’s healthy policing, much in the same way that our immune systems resist harmful viruses and bacteria.

Of course, what a dichotomous worldview sees is not a different way of relating and communicating that has its own rules of engagement, but us being hostile (bad) when they were just trying to have a discussion (good). 

I would like to get into how a diunital worldview influences religious outlooks, particularly as it relates to my Jewish journey. But that’s for another time.

I just gotta say I find this quite fascinating. Like, I have been thinking and saying that communicating about race with white people goes wrong because white people don’t read the words the same, hear them the same, see them the same or feel them the same. And I was never quite sure why or could come up with ideas but not quite exact reasons. However this would really fit into a lot of areas that leave me with questions and as you said, frustrated and drained and annoyed. So I need to totally learn more about this because it’s a natural fit in my thinking and it’s just wonderful, everything that was said. 

This is exactly how I felt when I read it.

“ASIANS BROUGHT IT ON THEMSELVES”

demons-and-gold:

colorblinding:

Green Onion <too_tardy@gmail.com> (unregistered) wrote:

Where were Asians when California Indians had bounties placed on them (scalp collecting) and were being slaughtered to collect said bounties that were tabulated based on age and sex? Where were the majority of Asians when the Civil Rights era was in full swing with the majority of POC (Asians are not POC) participating? Why do a lot of Asians tout their own superiority in this racial hierarchy to degrade other non-Caucasian groups and revel in it as well as basking in the idea of the model minority, going so far as to present IQ scores as their model of achieving what other groups couldn’t (due to having a different history in the States)? Face it, Asians brought it on themselves and expect others to sympathize? ROFL

Link to comment

IP address: 98.159.94.162

This uneducated racist douchebag just thought it was a smart idea to post this as a comment. Seeing as I am a contributor for an upcoming anthology and am unbelievably busy working on my entries, I don’t have time to write a comprehensive history of Asian cross-racial alliances within the United States. 

Though here’s a few points to consider.

• Asians did not really begin arriving in the United States until 1850. The group, predominately Chinese, largely could not speak English, and did not understand the political climate of the United States and immediately were targets from the beginning of hate crimes and legally institutionalized forms of segregation, exclusion, discrimination, etc. 
• Starting in 1854, a series of laws were passed that determined that Chinese were aliens in the country; could not become citizens due to being too “different”; had no rights to own land; could not testify in court; were taxed more than any other miners, black or white; could not marry outside of their race (an issue considering the fact that the Page Act of 1875 banned all Chinese women entrance into the country to prevent Chinese from procreation, which has been argued by many scholars as a form of genocide, creating the first bachelor society in the United States); were taxed based on the amount of air they were allowed to breathe in San Francisco; were driven out and forcibly deported; could not apply for business licenses; were taxed based on pole lengths (Chinese carried buckets and heavy packages on poles they held on their shoulders); were not allowed to vote; were segregated and forced into ghettos; were lynched and massacred by white folks on a regular basis; could not enter white-only establishments — so on and so forth. This culminated with the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, where NO Chinese were allowed entry into the United States. In 1917, the act expanded to include ALL of the “Asiatic races.”  It was not until 1942 that this was overturned, and only then it was with a very small quota of approximately 100 immigrants per year, compared with the thousands of immigrants from Europe and other parts of the world. This changed in the 1960s when the quotas were lifted. 
• During the infamous Plessy v. Ferguson case, which, if you do not know, means you know nothing at all about racial history and politics in the United States, Justice John Marshall Harlan argued against racial segregation only by invoking the “Oriental.” This is what he said: “There is a race so different from our own, that we do not permit those persons belonging to it to become citizens of the United States. Persons belonging to it are, with few exceptions, absolutely excluded from our country. I allude to the Chinese race.” And you were saying about Asians not being POC? 
• Japanese Internment. Concentration camps in the United States of all Japanese on the West Coast and in Hawaii. ‘nuff said.
• There is a long and VERY RICH history of Afro-Asian solidarity that has been going on since the Bandung Conference of 1955. To the degree that figures such as Richard Wright, Malcolm X, W.E.B. Du Bois, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Huey Newton amongst others, have all spoken rather emphatically about the importance of Afro-Asian alliances that not only are generated domestically but also transnationally, as demonstrated by the way many black figures during this period romanticized Mao and China in general as a potential post-racial fantasy. (Du Bois, Newton, and Wright all spent time in China.) In response, Mao Zedong even issued two major proclamations supporting the Civil Rights Movement. Domestically, there has also been a very rich history that I am not going to bother to cover here in depth, seeing as you most likely don’t really care to learn anyway. Though if there’s a slight chance you might actually care to be blown away by history: Afro-Asia ed. Fred Ho and Bill Mullen; Afro Orientalism by Bill Mullen; Blacks and Asians ed. Hazel M. McFerson; Orientals by Robert Lee; Everybody Was Kung-Fu Fighting by Vijay Prashad; AfroAsian Encounters  Ed. Heike Raphael-Hernandez and Shannon Steen
• Richard Aoki, one of the FOUNDING FIGURES OF, oh that’s right, just a small, completely unimportant organization known as the Black Panther Party. In fact, Bobby Seale credits Aoki for providing him with much of the philosophy that served as the foundation to the Party and for introducing him to Mao’s work. Oh gee, this just so happened to occur during the Civil Rights Movement. Or more appropriately, the Black Power Movement. (Disclaimer: I’m being sarcastic, guys, The Black Panther Party was a very important organization!) Not all Black Power Movement activists agreed with the idea of it being a Civil Rights Movement, but of course you wouldn’t have thought to learn more about the Movement before opening your mouth and saying some racist, ignorant bullshit.
• Yuki Kochiyama, one of Malcolm X’s most trusted disciples to the degree that he literally died with his head in her lap. She also, during the Black Power Movement, worked feverishly to get prisoners released and was instrumental in the movement. 
• Grace Lee Boggs, another major Black Power activist who worked with Malcolm X and had even wanted him to run for president.

 I could keep going but I don’t have time or the patience right now. Next time you want to be a racist douchebag, you might want to think twice about using your home computer, seeing as that sure is your IP address posted right there, along with your email address, for everyone to see. I might add that my blog is searchable by Google and anyone who does a search of your email will find this incredibly anti-Asian, racist comment you so thoughtfully decided to post on a blog with literally hundreds of followers.

LOVE THE RESPONSE TO THIS. Couldn’t have said it any better. Its hilarious how some uneducated fool thinks he knows so much about Asian-Americans yet remains completely oblivious toward the struggles we faced based on the racist stereotypes perpetuated by mainstream culture which, he also so coincidentally seems to be exhibiting. This is a prime example of why I believe the history of our communities is so grossly overlooked in America. His ignorance says it all, unfortunately. Many Asian-Americans DID participate in the Civil Rights Movement, you ignorant twat. Another person/event you should really consider familiarizing yourself with is Philip Vera Cruz (a Filipino-American and Asian-American civil rights activist) and the Delano Grape Strike of 1965. People tend to associate this strike with Mexican-American farm workers, most notable of which is Cesar Chavez. However, a majority remain unaware of the fact that the strike was originally orchestrated by Filipino-American farm workers prior to Cesar Chavez’s involvement. Point blank, your conclusion that a majority of Asian-Americans did not participate in the Civil Rights movement is not only false but completely absurd.   Hence, you fail dickhead. 

Whiteness is a constructed system that upholds white supremacy.

brazenbitch:

Whiteness is:

• The Snow White Complex
• Shadeism
• Systematic 
• Privilege 
• Genocide, Imperialism,Militarism, and Racism
• What led to the deaths of Troy Davis and Trayvon Martin, and continue to cause deaths of young black men all over the country.
• The rape of Recy Taylor, and the murder of  Shaima Al-Awadi
• Connects all white people,regardless of individual values, through their shared whiteness

anti whiteness=/= anti people who happen to be white

whiteness=/=heritage/culture

Please feel free to add examples of whiteness, I obviously haven’t caught them all

(Source: blck-grrl, via stfuconfederates)

The other thing that hurts about this Jenny Hyun thing

ardhra:

jhameia:

I know I was gonna go all STOMP THE BITCH and UGH EAST ASIANS WHY U SO RACIST LIDDAT and RARR DIAF but the other Big Thing about this is that

there is already so much tension between black and East Asian communities, and black and Asian communities in the first place. I’m thinking anti-black bullshit like the horrid racist against Lou Jing in 2009 and other personal things I’ve seen people say on the ground, like an aunt in England criticizing black people during the London riots and my mom reacting really negatively against the idea of my dating a black (and NDN) person. 

Incidents like these hurt anti-racism. How can Asians ever expect black people to trust them when so many Asians are willing to spout anti-black racism? And without that trust, what, really, is the potential for a black-Asian alliance to fight racism? 

And when everyone else just keeps silent, from corporations to Asian k-pop fans, it’s just another message to black people that our yellow skins are more important and we really didn’t care about this anti-racism thing after all, because fighting it in our own communities by ourselves is just too damn difficult. Because omg we can totes do it ourselves right? We can totally find our own theory of resistance and enact it, and totally ignore the long Asian-black history of sharing resistance modes. We can disavow our histories of racism that’s intimately intertwined with blackness because we are Asians therefore have Our Own Unique Historical Experience with white supremacy and we can totes do it ignoring what black people have done for generations. 

But of course when we’re accused of anti-black racism, we Asians also have our own black friends right? Those friends are only there when we’re accused of racism, OH NO, WE DON’T HAVE TO SAY ANYTHING WHEN SOMEONE DECIDES THAT IT WOULD BE A GOOD IDEA TO ERADICATE OUR FRIENDS FROM THE FACE OF THE PLANET.

But hey, assimilation, it is awesome, we can prove that we can consume black culture and cast aside black people along with the best of ‘em (whites).

Except, we never had to prove that. The way racism is set up, we never had to prove that this was doable at all. All we have to do is just participate in it, and it doesn’t prove diddly-squat except to reinforce the idea that the world thinks black people are inferior. So here we are scraping for attention and the embrace of white supremacy and waiting for accolades and the money to roll in for being the Model Minority, good Asian, good! and the only satisfaction we can possibly get out of this? Is that we managed to prove ourselves just as genocidal, just as colonial, as the white people we complain so much about and yet whose ranks we would desperately like to join. 

Well that’s great Jenny Hyun. I’m glad that you managed to get yourself some new friends and followers who adore you for being “so brave” in “expressing your opinion”. 

Thanks for eroding further the trust black people could have had for Asians in fighting racism, thanks for taking a shit on any solidarity we could have had, thanks for kicking aside the long history of black-Asian alliances, thanks for participating in white supremacy efforts to divide POC.

In short, thanks for nothing, you racist little fuck. I hope you get cast aside and drug in the dirt and insulted like you just did AN ENTIRE RACE OF HUMAN BEINGS. 

The thing that makes me completely uninterested in “diasporic Asian” identity/community/solidarity is that I’ve been called a black shit and the n-word to my face.

Most Asians who want to be upwardly mobile, get ahead in politics, dominate“lead” their communities, etc. are perfectly happy to deny that this can even happen. Because we’re so different from black people. Because they’re very happy to say that Asian cultures are so much better, more “civilised”, so much more “educated” than black peoples. (And I don’t just mean African-descended people, but that this anti-blackness is targeted at Aboriginal, Pacific Islander, and Asian peoples who’ve been designated and identify as black.) This attitude is pretty much replicating (in my case) Brahmin supremacy over indigenous and dalit people in South Asia, and Indian racial privilege over black peoples in pretty much every place that Indians migrated/were transported to during the British empire. Because they are so different from us. We’re practically white, just look at how well we fit in.

And if you don’t fit in, then have fun under that bus, cos nobody’s gonna even recognise you, let alone address your needs.

This happened all the time when Indian international students were protesting about being regular targets for racist violence and abuse. The “community leaders” declared it impossible because Indians are so well-regarded in Australia, and placated the cops and politicians who blamed the victims. There was a strong undercurrent of “there’s no way white people would dare treat us like they do Aboriginal people, we’re all so rich and genteel”.

This is why I completely reject the notion that people of colour can’t be racist, and why I don’t call racism perpetrated by poc ‘colourism’. This is about historically constructed structures of racial privilege, not attitudes about pigment. Asian people are absolutely racially privileged over black people, and (as we’ve seen) perpetrate systemic violence against black people (and other poc).

SEE BOLD. ALSO, SEE [THIS ARTICLE].

(via racemash)

velocicrafter:

pixyled: nudiemuse: liquornspice: shanaelmsford:

Is There Such A Thing As Racial PTSD?

A recent study out of Penn State University has found that chronic exposure to racial discrimination is analogous to the pressure troops can feel in combat and war.  Researchers found that many African-Americans who’ve been faced with racism struggle with debilitating stress similar to soldiers returning home from war.

According to the study:

“African-Americans who reported in a survey that they experienced more instances of racial discrimination had significantly higher odds of suffering generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) some time during their lives.”

The Penn State study confirms a condition that William A. Smith, Ph.D., of the University of Utah has coined “racial battle fatigue.”  Smith has argued that individuals can go directly from the experience of racism to the experience of a serious mental health disorder.  The study says that while it does not view discrimination as the same as conditions are exactly what soldiers face on a battlefield, it claims the underlying commonality is that stress is created in chronically unsafe or hostile environments.

A sentiment I voice fairly often. Especially when I’m in a city other than Phoenix. Especially when I’m in Portland. It takes me a good 24 hours to fucking relax and realize I don’t have to be on guard. Those happy white people that smiled at you as you walked by? They’re just happy white people! They probably don’t even want to touch your hair! CALM DOWN.

You mean to tell me that Black Americans in the United States face stress similar to combat veterans ??? 

(Source: shana--e)

passadvocacy:

Philip Vera Cruz & Larry Itliong, Forgotten Heroes of the UFW

Happy Pilipino-American History Month!

Philip Vera Cruz and Larry Itliong were the forgotten Pilipino heroes of the United Farm Workers (UFW) Union. They were both leaders in the battle for farm workers rights.

When you open a textbook on U.S. History, the 1960’s was the decade of change. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. walked for Civil Rights and the banning of Segregation for the betterment of society. Cesar Chavez led the United Farm Workers Chicano Movement, which fought for workers rights. But, where do the names Philip Vera Cruz and Larry Itliong fit in? People think that the Farm Workers movement was only a chicano/latino movement that made it to the history books. Unfortunately, a lot of people don’t know that it was also a movement lead by Pilipinos.

Philip Vera Cruz

Philip Vera Cruz was a Pilipino-American labor leader; he was a farm worker and a leader/Activist for the Asian American civil rights movement. Vera Cruz was one of the founders of the Agriculture Worker Organizing Committee (AWOC), which later merged with Cesar Chavez’s NationalFarm Workers Association (NFWA) and gave birth to the United Farm Worker (UFW). Philip Vera Cruz was long-time vice president of the UFW.

Larry Itliong

Larry Itliong was a Pilipino labor leader that founded the Filipino Farm Labor Union (FFLU) and was the President of AWOC. Larry was a self-taught labor leader who handled protests in California and Alaska. Along With Philip Vera Cruz, he convinced Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta’s predominantly Mexican/Latino National Farm Workers Association to join the Grape Strike and Boycott of 1965 demanding better pay and benefits. Together the Pilipinos and Mexicans formed the United Farm Workers. Larry Itliong became a high ranking member of the UFW, becoming the second vice president.

Philip Vera Cruz and Larry Itliong, along with other Pilipino-American farmers, were the people who started the 1965 Grape Strike and Boycott. One week later Cesar Chavez, Dolores Huerta, and Richard Chavez joined the strike that eventually brought an end to the unfair wages and benefits with a 300 mile pilgrimage from Delano to Sacramento. 

During this year’s Pilipino-American History Month, let us continue to honor Philip Vera Cruz and Larry Itliong for playing their important roles in the fight for farm labor rights.

ayiman:

knightoftaurus:

 ayiman:

“How the Irish Became White” by Noel Ignatiev

http://www.amazon.com/Irish-Became-White-Noel-Ignatiev/dp/0415918251

Damn that looks like a heavy book.

When there’s that many 1-star reviews, you know it’s going to be great.

Killers of the Dream by Lillian Eugenia Smith, also.  Particularly the part “Two Men and a Bargain.”

Great illustration of race relations in the US, and how racism as expressed by white supremacy defends and perpetuates itself.