this is one of those things where we need to be logical, not emotional.
what logic says is that even if the world is still full of racism, patriarchy and all that other nasty shit (and it is), that doesn't mean that my anarchist, white, structurally unemployable ass that is actually descended from irish "indentured servants" and very recent norse and italian immigrants has a damned thing to do with it - not even in the sense that my ancestors are responsible, because the fact is that they aren't. what logic says is that blaming me for the legacy of slavery, me being a lower class white person that is descended from servants for fuck's sake, and doing it for no other reason than the colour of my skin, is actually the definition of prejudice. it's racist. that's what logic says...
and, yes, it does tend to get a little irritating sometimes when i try and reach out to people of colour in an attempt to work together and the result is being accused of some kind of inherent systemic preference due to my skin colour, a preference that i'd like to take some advantage of, but that seems rather illusory. that makes it really hard to build inclusive systems, moving forwards. that's what the important point here is.
i'm consequently led to the conclusion that this song makes a difficult to acknowledge, but absolutely pertinent point: my white, anarchist, hopelessly unemployed ass wants to work together with people of all colours, genders and orientations to try and produce legitimate change, not get brow beaten by an upper middle class coloured person for being a privileged functionally homeless person. whether intentional or not, what we see in the critical race theory when put into practice is very powerful divide and conquer. and it's drilled, drilled, drilled. i've repeatedly seen white kids on welfare or worse apologize to dark kids that live in mansions for not recognizing their privilege. it's absurd.
however, logic isn't always the best way to approach the situation, and if put into the wrong set of hands this song can become very racist. it could be used to stifle dissent, to deny the necessity of state reparations or to eliminate policies that level the playing field of continuing systemic injustices.
but, of course, punk music is supposed to exist in this kind of gray area.
the proper, non-racist way to interpret the song is to apply it to something specific, not something general. there are people of colour in the activist community that need to get their facts straight, and this does need to be said to them - specifically. but, it cannot be generalized, as, when it is, it erases and trivializes a lot of things that should not be trivialized or erased.
this is one of those things where we need to be logical, not emotional.
what logic says is that even if the world is still full of racism, patriarchy and all that other nasty shit (and it is), that doesn't mean that my anarchist, white, structurally unemployable ass that is actually descended from irish "indentured servants" and very recent norse and italian immigrants has a damned thing to do with it - not even in the sense that my ancestors are responsible, because the fact is that they aren't. what logic says is that blaming me for the legacy of slavery, me being a lower class white person that is descended from servants for fuck's sake, and doing it for no other reason than the colour of my skin, is actually the definition of prejudice. it's racist. that's what logic says...
and, yes, it does tend to get a little irritating sometimes when i try and reach out to people of colour in an attempt to work together and the result is being accused of some kind of inherent systemic preference due to my skin colour, a preference that i'd like to take some advantage of, but that seems rather illusory. that makes it really hard to build inclusive systems, moving forwards. that's what the important point here is.
i'm consequently led to the conclusion that this song makes a difficult to acknowledge, but absolutely pertinent point: my white, anarchist, hopelessly unemployed ass wants to work together with people of all colours, genders and orientations to try and produce legitimate change, not get brow beaten by an upper middle class coloured person for being a privileged functionally homeless person. whether intentional or not, what we see in the critical race theory when put into practice is very powerful divide and conquer. and it's drilled, drilled, drilled. i've repeatedly seen white kids on welfare or worse apologize to dark kids that live in mansions for not recognizing their privilege. it's absurd.
however, logic isn't always the best way to approach the situation, and if put into the wrong set of hands this song can become very racist. it could be used to stifle dissent, to deny the necessity of state reparations or to eliminate policies that level the playing field of continuing systemic injustices.
but, of course, punk music is supposed to exist in this kind of gray area.
the proper, non-racist way to interpret the song is to apply it to something specific, not something general. there are people of colour in the activist community that need to get their facts straight, and this does need to be said to them - specifically. but, it cannot be generalized, as, when it is, it erases and trivializes a lot of things that should not be trivialized or erased.