Race Agency

[bcholmes]

Y'know, there was a time when I would have said that the best that I can do -- having been reared in a racist culture -- is to pay attention to my own behaviour and try to become aware of it.

Nowadays, I think that sounds very... inactive. I think that the best I can do includes actively seeking out resources for edumacating myself. And it's not like those resources have been hard to come by; just starting with a few resources quickly got me to more and more information. But I suppose it shouldn't surprise me to realize just how little information I was exposed to when I wasn't actively looking.

I suppose what I'm saying is that I believe in race agency. Partially because I believe in all forms of agency, but mostly because I think it's my job to own my skanky race issues and part of that being my job involves writing my own job description and figuring out just how to own those issues. And that's not just armchair pondering; that's work.

I know that RaceFail has been ugly and hard to watch. And sometimes that hard-to-watch-ness makes me kinda think, "is it ever going to end?!?" But I am glad for the conversation. (This sentiment is, to me, beautiful). I am so grateful to be able to learn from so many participants in this conversation, and I am sickened at the efforts in some parts to force a stop. Men anpil chay pa lou.