Disclaimer I’m a white womyn, I usually lurk so I don’t detract from conversation. And I’m using my privilege here, because we all know that white people take racism more seriously when white people are talking about it.

Did this thread really end up discussing the burden of the poor white men vegans?

A lot of these posts are “I agree but…” which is the same thing as “I’m not racist, but…”

“As far as this race issue – I am offended as a white person, just as a black person should be offended when they are referred to as “black people” or “black guy” instead of by their name. If you want racism to end, stop referring to others as black or white or vegan for that matter – just call them by their given name”

yes lets all be colorblind, then its much easier to ignore the systematic oppression that POC encounter every day. racism = prejudice + power. there is a HUGE difference between referring to someone as “that white guy” and referring to someone as “that black guy.” This also sets up an idea of racism as between white and black and makes any other POC invisible.

“Being a guy or rich or white or all three, I mean it must be really hard to see the world outside of your bubble. Being a woman or being a person of color or being economically disadvantaged or disabled or a lesbian, or a combination of all of those things are a few them, to me that’s a luxury.”

my brain just exploded reading this. It is a luxury to be oppressed? Really? there are situations when being a womyn casts me as an oppressed person. Those situations suck much more than when I gain something from the unearned privilege of being white. The burden of recognizing inequality is much less than living it.

Every white person on this thread making these comments needs to unpack their knapsack: http://www.case.edu/president/aaction/UnpackingTheKnapsack.pdf

and please keep in mind (from the about section):

“This blog was started (by me, Johanna, with the encouragement of some friends) to give a voice to vegans of color.”

if you are arguing against the racism that a POC is experiencing, you are taking away that voice and shutting it down. because someone living that experience is WAY better situated to tell you what it is like.

Sorry. I’ll go back to lurking now.

I think the Peeps were a creative idea but when this happened I was seriously confused. Perhaps you’ve answered this at another time but I’ve got to ask… Were/Are you aware that Peeps are made with the crushed bones, organs, connective tissues, and intestines of other animals?

See pictures from the Peep Show
How much more gentle could I have been?
http://veganica.com/artist/category.php?artistid=370&catid=654

I wonder if the concept could be expanded… What if the kids had to take care of a toy stuffed cat or dog for three days, or two dolls, one black and and one white? What if the dog or cat was dirty from the start, to see if that would affect how it was treated? Or one of the dolls was fat?

You know what’s weird at one point I thought seeing the world simply was a luxury, but if you really think about it, it’s not.

Being a guy or rich or white or all three, I mean it must be really hard to see the world outside of your bubble. Being a woman or being a person of color or being economically disadvantaged or disabled or a lesbian, or a combination of all of those things are a few them, to me that’s a luxury. That gives you empathy. That gives you a perspective. Being an American (assuming most people on this board or who visit it are American) already gives you a real narrow perspective on suffering. Not that an American can’t suffer, but you get what I am saying.

But I think being a member of an oppressed group really helps in such matters as living beings justice, because you know what injustice brings first hand, not from a book or tv, but from life experience. I think that helps in being able to think about things. I think having that depth of experience gives you a leg up in regards to any kind of political oriented cause.

To me if you are a member of an oppressed group and you are a member of an industrialized country and you get to be educated and well read and you have the ability to travel you’re almost required by karmic law to do something with that. You know the imperial gov’ts from the inside and you are in a little way part of that and wow think of all of the things you can do with that from the perspective that you have.

Browne Molyneux

Katie — thanks for the link!

And Neva — yeah, I remain skeptical that humane education can drive out all the -isms within us… even if implemented early (first of all, it’d have to be practically as soon as we’re born — people start treating babies differently based on gender pretty much from birth!). Thanks for laying out your experience & thoughts.